


More Than Just a Pretty Face

by oh_imintrouble



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Background Hunk/Shay, Bi Lance (Voltron), Existential Crisis, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Smut, Gay Keith (Voltron), I just really wanted Lance in makeup guys, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, In later chapters anyway - Freeform, Keith and Shiro are Siblings, Keith doesn't know what he's doing with his life, Lance knows what he wants, M/M, Model AU, Pining Keith (Voltron), Pining Lance (Voltron), Slow Build, Slow Burn, background shallura - Freeform, in later chapters again, makeup artist au, makeup artist! Lance, model! Keith, will put trigger warning in beginning of chap
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-12
Updated: 2018-06-26
Packaged: 2018-09-17 00:19:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 39,299
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9295955
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oh_imintrouble/pseuds/oh_imintrouble
Summary: All he’d wanted to do was make a little extra cash, maybe put some aside to pay off his student loans later. The last thing he expected was to be “discovered,” gain gig after gig, demanding his time and energy until his jobs were taking more time than his classes. He wasn’t just Keith Kogane anymore, no, he was Keith K., the face of Altea cosmetics, model for New York fashion week, featured in music videos and the occasional commercial. It was...insanity. But was it what he wanted?Lance was just a college student with a pretty steady social media following for his makeup tutorials and finished looks. He had never considered modelling, but he would do whatever it took to get his foot in the door to be an actual makeup artist.----Keith and Lance work together and Keith realizes he really doesn't know what he wants anymore. Lance realizes that his celebrity crush is more than just that.Chapter titles are literally gonna be named after Keith's dorky ass alien shirts because I live for my not so secretly nerdy emo space son.





	1. The Truth is Out There

**Author's Note:**

> ...so I'm still not entirely sure how this happened  
>  I was just driving home, talking to my friend about normal shit, when I was fucking sWAMPED with ideas and the undying NEED to write model Keith and Lance in makeup and it spiraled out of control okay I don't know what happened all I know is I stole my friend's computer and got this and the next couple chapters written???

How did this become his life? All he’d wanted to do was make a little extra cash, maybe put some aside to pay off his student loans later. The last thing he expected was to be “discovered,” gain gig after gig, demanding his time and energy until his jobs were taking more time than his classes. Then he got a _manager,_ and Keith was actually sure he was actually dreaming. That’s why he let Zak Galra of Galra Industries take over, direct him to drop a class or two, transfer some to be done online so he had more time for jobs. He wasn’t just Keith Kogane anymore, no, he was Keith K., the face of Altea Cosmetics, model for New York fashion week, featured in music videos and the occasional commercial. It was...insanity.

He had _fans._ Hundreds of thousands of social media followers. Even some _celebrities_ had expressed wanting to meet him. _Him._ Keith, who grew up in a shitty little apartment in Detroit with his half brother and stepfather. Who spent countless days in his schools’ principals’ offices for fights. Who spent the first half of his college years hermitting himself in his dorm room, devoting his time to studying and conspiracies.

He still wasn’t used to it.

He had been modelling for almost two years, and at twenty-two he was still in his prime, ready to sail through the next few years continuing to dominate the industry. His classes were put on hold, along with his social life, and though his brother was worried he was losing his chance at a normal life, he couldn’t find it in himself to complain.

It was a normal day, he dragged himself out of bed painfully early to meet with his personal trainer--though he insisted he would be just fine going to the gym like a regular person, Zak insisted it would be safer to work with Thane--then met his brother Shiro for breakfast.

Shiro had actually been the one to set him up with his first gig, posing for his girlfriend’s--at the time--small makeup line’s website. Allura quickly made a name for herself online, starting small with her youtube channel doing makeup tutorials then by making her own products. The two had been together since their junior year of high school, so she had known Keith since he was nine, watched him grow up for the most part, and when Shiro suggested him for her to test some looks on she jumped on the opportunity. Though at first he wanted nothing to do with it, she was like a sister to Keith, he couldn’t turn her down.

Keith pulled his bike up to the alley beside his brother’s apartment building, careful to hide from the public eye, and parked it along the fire escape. He left his helmet hooked to the handles and pulled his sunglasses from the inside pocket of his leather jacket, slipping them on his face. He felt ridiculous skulking around most of the time, but he _had_ had some rather...uncomfortable situations due to being recognized in the past.

After pulling down the ladder he climbed up onto the fire escape, taking the metal stairs up to the fourth floor two at a time. Once on his brother’s floor he hopped over the rail and climbed onto the brick ledge, shuffling himself along until he was at the dining room window. With a shit-eating grin on his face he crouched down, and quietly pulled the window up, creeping into the apartment and the always present chair waiting for him. When he was sure he hadn’t alerted either of them to his presence he tiptoed towards the kitchen, then let out a boisterous, “hey Shiro!”

Shiro, who was standing at the stove stirring something for breakfast, jumped nearly ten feet in the air, a rather high-pitched shriek escaping him.

“ _Jesus,_ Keith!” He breathed, one hand over his racing heart and the other clutching the edge of the counter. “Have you never heard of going through the lobby?!”

Too pleased with himself to care, he shrugged, looking almost smug as he tugged off his jacket to lay it over the back of one of the seats tucked up to the island. “Didn’t want to chance attracting any attention. Remember the last time I did and the guard tried to set me up with his daughter?”

“Better than killing you brother!”

Allura yawned as she stepped into the kitchen, scratching the back of her head as she tried to shake away the last remnants of sleep. “And waking me up,” she muttered, looking at Keith like all she wanted to do was throw him.

Though she was usually an early riser herself, it was one of those rare days that Allura didn’t have any meetings to go to, and she typically spent those mornings sleeping in as late as her body would allow. And Keith wasn’t one to get between someone and sleeping. So he held his hands up in surrender, stepping back from her before she could act on her fantasies of bodily harm.

“Morning to you too, Allura,” he said, crossing his arms over her chest.

She simply hummed, a small smile on her face, and stepped up behind Shiro to wrap her arms around his waist. “You don’t have anything going on today do you?” She asked, picking her head up to look from the stove back to Keith.

“Uh...my day is free, actually. Early morning tomorrow though. Why?”

“Do you remember that contest I held?” He nodded. “Well, the winner is coming by the office today for the photoshoot, and I thought it would be nice to have a veteran around to teach the new kid,” she said, batting her eyes at him in the way that told him she wasn’t really asking so much as _telling him_ what he would be doing.

Keith groaned, dropping his head back, and leaned heavily against the wall behind him. “I was wondering why I wasn’t overscheduled today,” he muttered, running a hand through his hair. “Okay, yeah, sure, I’ll do it. I don’t have to be photographed though, right? I was sort of enjoying the idea of a day without being covered in makeup.”

“I make no promises. But it’ll be fun!” She declared, clapping her hands together, then smiling up at Shiro. “You spoke with the winner already, yes? Keith would have a lot of fun, _right?_ ”

“Yeah, seems like a good kid,” Shiro said, returning the smile. “Very talented too from what I’ve seen. I doubt you’ll have to do much more than just _meeting_ the kid.”

Keith nodded slightly, visibly more at ease, and pulled his phone from his pocket. “They got an instagram?”

“Yeah, it’s 'sirlancealot.'"

A moment of searching later, and Keith pulled up the user, eyes immediately going wide and all the air leaving his lungs.

_Fuck._

* * *

 

Lance was going to explode. How was this real life? He was dreaming wasn’t he? He had to be, stuff like this just didn’t happen to him! He was just simple, average Lance McClain. Well, okay, he wasn’t average, he _knew_ he had it going on, but _still._ This was crazy!

“Hunk, can you-”

“I swear to god if you ask him to pinch you one more time I’m going to punch you in the face,” Pidge threatened, glaring at him from their spot sprawled out on his bed.

Lance pouted, slumping against his desk-turned-vanity, and circled his finger against the desktop. “I’m just _excited,_ Pidge! Like...holy shit how can this actually be happening?!”

“You did a great job with your submission, Lance, it’s really not...all that much of a surprise?” Hunk, the ever supportive, wonderful, Hunk pointed out, pushing at his best friend’s arm. “Like dude! This is huge! You get to meet _the_ Allura Altea! And...and that one...model?”

“ _You mean Keith K!”_ Lance practically screamed, sitting up straight and slamming his hands down. “ _That_ is why this can’t be real! Do you know how freaking gay for that guy I am?”

Without a single pause the other two said, “yes,” Pidge sounding absolutely exasperated and Hunk almost fond but still tired.

“You haven’t shut up about him since you first saw him. I know more about this Keith guy than any person not involved in this whole makeup thing should ever know,” Pidge muttered, crossing their arm over their face. “Just please promise me, if you meet him, and he’s really straight and you have zero chance, I’ll never have to hear his name again.”

“I don’t think someone who does pictures like him can be one hundred percent straight...wait, is that bad?” Hunk asked, looking between his friends.

“Kinda.”

“Don’t worry about it, big guy, we know you didn’t mean anything by it,” Lance offered after seeing the almost panicked look on his friend’s face. “And I can make no promises.”

“Right, because if he’s straight, your pining playlist will turn into a rejection playlist.”

“Rude!”

“ _Anyway,_ ” Hunk started, bringing their attention back to the task at hand, “when do you have to be at the studio?”

“Ah, the email said four. And like, it said there’s gonna be artists there to do my makeup but I don’t want to go in bare faced, y’know? Gotta make that first impression, show that they should totally hire me on full time, so I should at least do the basics, yeah? Make sure I’m lookin’ flawless, get that highlight on point.”

The two nodded, and Pidge pushed themselves up to lean on their elbows. “You should give yourself green eyebrows.”

“Pidge, no.”

“But also consider: yes. Green eyebrows. Make it happen.”

“Why did I even invite you over?”

“My genius input?”

“I don’t think that’s the word for it but okay,” Lance sighed, leaning back in his seat. “Okay. Okay okay okay. I got this! ...Right?”

Though they lived to torment him, Pidge knew when their friend needed support. “Hell yeah you got this! You’re Lance Motherfuckin’ McClain!”

“Yeah!” Hunk joined, throwing his fists up in the air. “You crushed that competition, and...Allura? Allura! Picked your submission among _thousands_ because you’re just that amazing!”

Lance let out a long held breath, and felt a smile creep onto his face. “Thanks guys.” Then just like that his smile fell, and he stared vacantly at the wall between his friends, a look of pure horror on his face. “Oh my god,” he breathed, eyes wide. “What am I gonna wear?”

* * *

 

Keith was...weirdly nervous. He hadn’t been nervous for a shoot since his first real high fashion gig, and he wasn’t even going to be the focal point today! It was just that working with another model--well, another person, this guy wasn’t really a model yet--was always...stressful. What if this guy was a major tool? What if he didn’t follow orders and Keith had to show him what to do? What if he told Keith to fuck off and leave him alone and then Keith had to fight him and Shiro had to separate them and-

“Keith!” Allura yelled, the exasperation in her voice showing this definitely wasn’t the first time she’d called his name. “Were you listening to a word I said?”

He sat quietly a moment, staring up at her from the lounge he was curled up on, and finally let out a long “yes?” He could see the murderous intent in her eyes, and almost sheepishly looked away. “No. Sorry. What’s up?”

“I lost track of time and I still have to go over some plans with the photographer, would you mind going down to the lobby to meet our winner?” Just as he was about to turn her down, she turned on the charm. Her scary, confusing, ‘I could kill you if you don’t do as I say and you’d probably enjoy it’ charm. “Keith. Go meet Lance in the lobby, and bring him up here.”

“Alright,” he sighed, pushing himself to his feet. Keith trudged along to the elevator, putting on his usual ‘I don’t care’ facade up until the elevator doors closed. Once along he quickly adjusted the beanie on his head, using the mirrored ceiling to adjust the bangs framing his face, then rolled the sleeves of his red flannel up to his elbows. When he heard the ding of the elevator he slouched, hands thrust into his pockets, and stepped out into the pristine lobby.

“Hey Coran,” he called, giving the head security guard a small wave as he approached. “Has that Lance guy shown up yet?”

“Ah, Mr. McClain?”

 

Lance jumped up from his seat in the lobby at the sound of his name, putting on a confident grin as he approached the guard and...oh my god. Keith. That was Keith. And Keith just said his name. He knew his name and- holy shit.

“H-hi, yeah, that’s me!” He said, quickly shaking off his nerves in lieu of his now fake confidence.

He was face to face with the guy that had been plastered all over his dorm room walls for the last two years, and jesus did this guy even _have_ pores his skin was so flawless and- oh. Oh no. He was saying something to him.

“-supposed to take you upstairs. Did anyone tell you what to expect?” Keith asked, shifting his weight to one foot and moving his hands from his front pockets to his back pockets. His soft hair framed a pale, perfect face, and was tied into a small ponytail just beneath the bottom of the beanie he was wearing. He was wearing a flannel that hugged his arms way too nicely to be legal, black jeans that both slimmed his legs and showed off the strength of his thighs, and- was that a fucking alien shirt?

Yep. That right there, under the open flannel, was a plain black shirt with white block letters that said “the truth is out there” and a small alien head beneath it.

“Uh...Lance?”

“Sorry, what? Yeah. Um. I’m gonna meet with an artist, they’re gonna do my makeup, then we’re taking pictures together? I mean, Allura and I. Yeah.”

Keith looked at him almost skeptically, one brow raised, and Lance mentally cursed himself. Great. He already embarrassed himself.

“I mean, unless you’re gonna be part of it?”

Then he nodded, though he still looked a little unsure. “Yeah, uh, Allura asked for my help, so if you run into any issues or have any questions I’ll be off to the side. Might not leave the other side of the camera though.”

“Cool cool cool,” he said, nervously tapping out a beat against his thighs. “So...upstairs?”

Keith nodded again, and turned on his heel, directly Lance out of the lobby and to the elevator. The ride up to the sixth floor was quiet, maybe even a little awkward, Lance wasn’t sure. If he were being honest, he was more than a little distracted trying not to seem like an idiot to the guy beside him.

Keith was standing so close he could smell his cologne, a rugged, pleasant scent that reminded him of bonfires and late summer nights, and honestly it wasn’t fair for him to be that fucking attractive and smell good and have the world’s sexiest voice-

“You uh, you been doing this long?” Lance asked though he already knew the answer, and chanced a glance at the other man.

“A couple years,” Keith said, keeping his gaze straight ahead.

“Is it fun? I mean, I figured it’s probably super fun, but… do you like it?”

He gave a noncommittal hum and a nod, stepping out of the elevator the second the doors opened. “Allura! I have him!” He called, leaving Lance to follow once more. Which he would have done, immediately, had he not been so...blinded.

This was happening. He was in a pro studio, surrounded by professionals who all managed to make their dreams come true. And if he played his cards right, if they liked him enough, he could join them. He slowly followed in Keith’s footsteps, looking all around to take in the lights, the sets and cameras, and the makeup counters _filled_ with products that he would soon give himself over to as a blank canvas.

“You must be Lance!” A voice called, bringing him back to the present.

He flushed bright red all the way to his ears, and stared at the woman before him, his icon for the past few years. “Y-you’re- you’re-”

And he thought meeting Keith had him starstruck. Meeting Allura was like a _dream._

She stood before him, the picture of perfection, with her long white hair tied into a messy bun atop her head, her makeup simple but again, perfect with her pristine winged eyeliner and signature pink just beneath her bright, blue eyes. Like Keith she was dressed fairly casually in a pair of black leggings, boots, and a light blue croptop and grey cardigan.

“It’s such a pleasure to meet you, Lance! My name is Allura Altea, I’m the founder here, go ahead and just call me Allura if you’d like.” She offered her hand to his, and for just a moment he was shocked by just how strong her handshake was.

“Hi! Hello! Uh, y-yeah, that’s me, I’m Lance,” he said, brilliantly, unable to control the wide grin on his face. “Thank you so much for this opportunity, I won’t let you down!”

Seeming to sense his nervousness she gave a soft laugh, and though he was slightly embarrassed, the sound was like music to his ears. “I should be thanking you! Your submission was just absolutely fantastic, we’re all excited to work with you today! Now, if you wouldn’t mind sitting over here, Shay will be doing your makeup and I’ll be fixing up Keith.”

“Wha-” the other man started, only to be cut off by a wave of Allura’s hand.

“C’mon, Keith! You two will look absolutely marvelous next to each other! And just think about how much you’ll be helping out the new kid here,” she said, shooting a wink Lance’s way.

Keith groaned, long and drawn out, and dropped his head back. “Fine. Fine. But you owe me,” he muttered, stalking over to the seat in front of the mirror, and dropped down to sit.

“Fantastic! Now for Keith I’m going to do a lot of lighter colors, sharp contouring, accentuate his cheekbones with a silver highlighter,” she started, directing her full attention to the other artist as she went to stand behind the model, gesturing to the different parts of his face as she explained her plans. “For Lance, I’m thinking warmer colors, take advantage of his beautiful, brown skin with a golden highlight, seamless contouring, maybe some rose gold on his lids-”

Lance stayed quiet, and went to take the seat beside Keith’s, nervously fiddling with his fingers as he tried to keep the wide grin off his face. This was happening. It was really happening.

He chanced a glance at Keith, and for a moment he found his dark, almost violet eyes staring into his before quickly looking away.

This really was a dream come true.


	2. Don't be Sad be Rad

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance has his first photoshoot with Altea Cosmetics and makes a fool out of himself but really what else is new?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> did I say bonding last chapter? I meant lowkey eye fucking  
> this--again--kinda got away from me but I got really excited by the responses I've gotten so far so I thought whY NOT post the second chapter not even 24 hours after the first one??  
> seriously though thank you guys so so much I'm your comments all made me so happy and even more excited to work on this fic which honestly I didn't think was possible  
> sooo I hope you like this and I continue to live up to your guys' expectations~

“Alright Keith, show him how it’s done!”

Keith rolled his eyes, but Lance didn’t see any genuine malice in it. The shorter man took the lead, tilting his chin up ever so slightly, cheeks microscopically sucked in to further accentuate his high cheekbones, and turned his gaze without turning his head to look in Lance’s direction. His lips were slightly parted, eyes half-lidded, and if Lance weren’t so afraid of looking stupid he probably would have dropped dead right then and there.

Seriously, it wasn’t fair how pretty this guy was.

“Now Lance, I want you to take a tiny step forward, keep your back to Keith but cheat out towards the camera- yes good, just like that. And tilt your chin down, maybe set your hand on your face like this-” Allura demonstrated the light, featherlike touch of her own fingers against her cheek, her pinky finger at the corner of her parted lips. Lance mimicked what she was showing him, and she visually brightened. “Yes! Now look at us, and-”

A surprisingly buff man standing behind the camera took several consecutive shots, the brights lights nearly blinding Lance. The other man--Shiro was it?--stepped closer, leaving the tripod where it was to get shots from each side of the two standing by each other.

“Alright, now face each other please,” Allura directed, then moved in to take Keith’s place. “So what I’m thinking is we can have you two close together, your foreheads touching, maybe have Lance grab the front of your shirt, Keith-”

“Why?” Keith asked, nose wrinkled and shooting Lance directly in the ego.

“Because if you two are close like that it’ll further show the contrast in the makeup styles and your skintones,” she said matter-of-factly, hands on her hips. “Now come on then, I want to get these shots done at least before I leave you two to do your solo shots.”

“Solo shots?” Lance echoed, head cocked ever so slightly. “Then what about-”

“Oh, the shots with me?” He nodded. “Yes, once we get these done I’m going to go get ready and we’ll get ours in. I’d rather use new models and those close to me than myself for the website, so those will mostly be for pleasure instead of advertisements,” she explained, looking between the men and the photographer. “Shiro, are you _sure_ I can’t convince you to get in on this too?”

“Positive,” he laughed, one hand holding his camera propped up on his shoulder and the other on his hip. “I’d rather stay on this side of things.”

“You Kogane men,” she muttered, shaking her head with a fond smile on her face. “Alright!” She said, clapping her hands together. “Back to work then! Now Keith, face him, Lance, take the shirt.”

Lance did as he was told and gingerly took hold of Keith’s collar, his hands shaking slightly as the model stepped in closer. The other man took one look at their height difference, giving a soft huff as he turned his head _up_ to look at Lance, then twisted his lips into a grimace.

“Okay, we’re gonna have to do something else here.”

Allura hummed thoughtfully, arms crossed, and tapped her finger against her lips. “Alright, instead, what if you look at him like you’re sizing him up? You know, getting an idea of the new guy?”

Keith nodded, and quickly but lightly slapped his hands away. Lance nervously shoved his shaking hands in the back pockets of his jeans, and looked down at the other man, keeping his chin held high. The shorter man set the hand not facing the camera on Lance’s face, careful not to smudge any of the makeup, and placed his thumb lightly on his bottom lip, looking up at him through half-lidded eyes.

His heart was in his throat, and Lance actually had to remind himself to breathe when he saw the lights flashing once more.

Okay. Be cool. Just modelling. This is what they do, so just go along with it.

Once satisfied with that shot, Keith turned away from him to face the others, and took one step forward. He ran a hand through his hair, his beanie long since discarded, and looked up at the camera from under his lashes, once again leaving Lance positively starstruck.

How was this so easy for him? It was like he didn’t even have to think about things, he just moved with this flow, like his body was performing a dance Lance could never even _dream_ of learning.

Well. If he couldn’t learn Keith’s. then he would just have to create his own.

Not one to ever readily be shown up, Lance stepped forward, and set his elbow on the other man’s shoulder, leaning into him. He looked to the opposite corner of the room, an almost faraway look in his eyes, and cocked his head ever so slightly.

 

When the other man leaned into him Keith had to take a single moment to recollect himself, for once actually thrown off by another’s actions. He was used to people trying to do their own thing, make a poor attempt at trying to stand out and be the focal point even during couples shoots, but this guy, this complete rookie, just went with the flow and leaned into him, tried to actually work with Keith. He glanced over at him, and sure enough the nerves he had seen when they first stepped away from makeup and onto the actual set were long gone.

He was impressed. And if Allura’s whistle was anything to go off of, so was she.

“Alright, Shiro, you take care of these two, I’ll be right back,” she said, glancing at Keith before going back to the makeup stations.

His brother nodded, and approached the two, in full photographer mode. “Okay, I want just a couple more of you two together, then Keith you can go take a break. Now first-”

‘Just a couple more’ turned into dozens, and what Keith thought would take ten minutes tops turned into an hour. He was just stepping off set when Allura stepped on, her simple makeup gone in exchange for a far more dramatic look.

While she had kept Keith to icy tones and Lance to golden ones, she went more colorful with her own. Her contour was blended to perfection, a peachy highlighter bringing out her high cheekbones, and there was an array of colors on her eyelids, the blues and purples and oranges all blended to resemble a sunset. There were small gems just beneath the dark purple blended along her bottom lashes, and a rather dramatic pair of false lashes in place. She was just finishing with a black lipstick when Keith realized what she’d done--she had recreated the look Lance had done for his submission. Just as he was about to compliment her, Lance all but screeched in surprise.

“Y-you did-! That’s-! Oh my god this is amazing!” He gushed, practically sprinting off the set to get a closer look at her rendition.

Allura beamed at him, her bright blue eyes sparkling--or was that the glitter?--and set a hand on his shoulder. “It’s a beautiful look, Lance. You did a phenomenal job. Now as well as posting your submission on my website I’ll be putting up my recreation if that’s alright with you? You will of course be appropriately credited.”

“ _Yes!_ That’s- yes that’s perfect!”

“Great! I would also like to offer a spot on my channel? I know it’s a small thing but if you are up for it I would like to introduce the new member of my team online?”

“New- new member? Are...are you serious?”

“Originally it was just to be a single shoot, but seeing how you are performing today I would like to offer you a temp position with Altea Cosmetics. We can talk contracts later, but for now it would be simple things, posing for new looks for the website, contributing to the social media accounts, possibly creating your own-”

“ _Yes!_ ” Lance cheered, eyes bright and--glistening? Was he about to cry? He must have really wanted this.

Keith never quite got the excitement of the job. Maybe in the beginning he had been excited, looking forward to the opportunities presented before him, but now it was just...dull. He had never expected things to go on this long, he thought that by now he would have his degree and a position with an observatory, not magazine covers and a fanbase.

Sure, it was great for some, but he was never the most...sociable of people. He was more reserved, leaning towards straight up antisocial, and he preferred his alone time. That was why he had wanted to be a pilot. Then an astronomer. Both of those allowed him to explore the world around him without the hassle of dealing with other people, without having to _rely_ on other people.

Not that he wasn’t grateful. He recognized how truly lucky he was to have made it in this industry and make the money he had, but...he wasn’t sure it was necessarily worth it? Seeing Lance get all excited and misty eyed...it just wasn’t a feeling he ever had in this line of work.

“So what do you think?” Shiro murmured, voice low as he watched his girlfriend discuss the job with Lance. “You know how this whole thing works, think he’ll make it?”

Keith glanced at his brother, and crossed his arms over his chest before returning his gaze to the other man. Subjectively speaking-- _yes,_ just subjectively!--he was certainly attractive. He had a nice bone structure, clear, well-maintained skin, and legs for days. That, and he was a natural in front of the camera and seemed to work with others without much hesitation. But there were hundreds like that. There were some more talented, some more attractive, others with more money and resources to get a leg up in the industry. But Lance…

“Guess it’ll be up to him,” he muttered, giving a shrug.

He would like to see him succeed. Despite his more “aloof” demeanor, he truly did wish for people to succeed. He wanted to see people do well in life, to know exactly what they wanted and just _go for it_. Maybe it was because he was a good person, but more likely it was because he wanted to live vicariously through them.

And there it was, the uncomfortable twisting of his stomach. Keith stood up straighter, his shoulders back, and with a start realized he was still staring at Lance. And Lance was staring back at him.

Shit.

“What?” He asked, his voice coming out sharper than he’d intended.

Lance visibly tensed, and chanced a glance at Allura before meeting his gaze once more. “Sorry, uh, I was just...wondering if I could maybe…”

“Spit it out.”

“Keith,” Allura started, one brow raised and arms crossed over her chest, the underlying ‘be nice’ hitting him like a punch to the gut.

“...Sorry. What do you want?”

_Not much better. Sorry, Allura._

“I was just...okay. So. I was just wondering how often you’re still around this studio?”

Keith frowned, less of a scowl and more confused, and furrowed his brows. “Why?”

“So I was--god this is lame--I was hoping I could maybe possibly do your makeup sometime? It would- I don’t really get the chance to put makeup on other people and I just have so many ideas and-”

God he could talk.

“Sure. Talk to Allura about it, and she’ll get in contact with me. I uh, I have to go. Early morning, y’know?”

Shiro frowned, and Keith couldn’t bring himself to keep looking at him. “What about going out for dinner?”

He gave a shrug and ignore how tense it really was. “I need to be watching my weight anyway; I don’t want Zak on my case again.” He chanced a glance back to Lance, and felt something shift uncomfortably in him when he saw the almost hopeful look in his eyes. “Talk to Allura,” he said again, already moving to shrug on his jacket. “Give her what times you’re available, and I’ll try to find time for us to meet here at the studio.”

“Keith,” she started, and seriously how could she put him on edge with just the tone of her voice? “Why don’t you two just exchange information? I don’t have the time to play messenger for you, and he will be joining the company anyhow. It’s just business.”

There was something about the way she was looking at him, the almost smirk forming on her lips that just furthered his unease, but he couldn’t very well say no with everyone staring at him.

“Fine. Give me your number. And like Allura said, this is just business, okay? Don’t go texting me like we’re friends.”

He knew he sounded harsh, that he probably wasn’t leaving the best impression on the new guy, but it was better this way. According to his contract with Zak, he wasn’t allowed to get involved with other men, couldn’t chance it getting out that he was batting for the other team because it would ruin sales or some other bullshit. And he knew who he was as a person; he recognized that while he was good at suppressing any feelings, it was easier to just not allow them to form in the first place.

Lance however, didn’t seem to care. He didn’t care that he was being a dick, or that he was obviously ditching out on all of them, no, he was just...excited. He looked like he did when Allura offered him a job, his eyes bright and a wide grin on his face as he pulled his phone out of his pocket.

“Yeah yeah, don’t worry about it, I swear I won’t!” He promised, then waited for Keith to take his phone out to give him his number. “Just um, yeah, t-text me so I have your number, and I’ll uh, get back to you after I look at my calendar and we can figure something out.”

Keith quickly left after exchanging numbers--and promising Shiro he’d take him out next time he had a night off--and after giving a quick goodbye to Coran ducked out the back door. Instead of going directly home he turned off his phone and hopped on his bike, his usual route in mind as he pulled onto the main road.

He found himself home several hours later, and with a parting grimace to his phone--as if the clock had personally attacked him with the amount of time that had passed--he trudged up the stairs to his apartment. Keith locked the door behind him, and plopped down to his sofa instead of going to his bed because really, what was the point in going to bed if he had to be out and working in just four hours. With his shoes discarded at the door he kicked his feet up onto the arm of his couch, and pulled his phone out to set his alarm. Then he saw the texts he had received while it was off.

**_Zak [21:03]:_ ** _Don’t forget I’m sending a driver to get you tomorrow morning. And we’re going to be having a talk about that damn bike of yours._

**_Lance [20:11]:_ ** _hey! idk if i told you already but thanks for today it was SO great!_

**_Lance [22:46]:_ ** _oh i almost forgot, i have a couple free days next week if you were srs about letting me do your makeup_

Keith glanced at the time, and frowned, crossing his arm under his head. Replying to Zak was out of the question, he would have his head if he knew how late he was out. Lance however wouldn’t care, would he?

**_Keith [01:20]:_ ** _I have to go out of town next Tuesday. Monday work for you?_

He was about to plug his phone in when it dinged in his hand, making him cock his head curiously.

**_Lance [01:22]:_ ** _it’s a date ;)_

**_Lance [01:23]:_ ** _waIT YOU DON’T KNOW ME WELL ENOUGH TO KNOW I’M JOKING, I’M TOTALLY JOKING_

Keith snorted, a small smile creeping onto his face.

**_Keith [01:25]:_ ** _Way to go, I’ve known you less than twelve hours and you’ve already embarrassed yourself._

**_Lance [01:27]:_ ** _hey that’s record for me_

**_Lance [01:28]:_ ** _sooo...we still on for monday?_

**_Keith [01:30]:_ ** _Yeah. Meet me at the studio at five._

He was so screwed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Allura is all of us  
> also do you know how to waste a solid hour of your life? google different eye looks and getting straight up lost on instagram crying over makeup  
> well next chapter will have a closer look at Keith's relationship with his manager--spoiler alert, he's the actual worst--and Lance doing his makeup and internally screaming over how pretty he is


	3. The Moon Landing was Faked

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith works with his two least favorite people, but Lance makes it kinda alright. Lance does his makeup and makes the outside finally match the inside,

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sooooo I have good news and bad news  
> the good news is there's soon going to be art for this fic! I'm going to be commissioning someone for some art of the photoshoot and will be posting a link when it's finished!  
> the bad news is I broke my elbow :( so because of that unfortunately chapters will probably be posted a lot slower while it heals so please bear with me  
> I hope you guys enjoy! c:

Keith just wanted to sleep. His alarm rang out bright and early, rousing him from rem sleep, and with an almost disgusted scowl he rolled off of his sofa onto the floor. After a moment of just lying there, wondering how likely it would be for him to flee the country and change his name so he wouldn’t have to deal with any of this, he finally pushed himself to his feet with a groan. He took his phone from the charger and turned off his alarm, wrinkling his nose at the bright _4:00_ staring back at him. He only had thirty minutes before he had to be out of the apartment, and if he was late again he would never hear the end of it.

With only the desire to not be lectured guiding him, he dragged himself to his bathroom and turned on the shower. He left the water on cold at first, sure that his body would need that jolt to fully wake him, and stripped his clothes from the previous night off. Keith took a deep breath, mentally preparing himself, then stepped in. No matter how many times he did this, he could still never control the surprised shriek that escaped him each time the near frozen spray touched his skin.

At least he was wide awake now...

He quickly reached down to turn the temperature up all the way, his muscles finally relaxing under the heat. He quickly washed his hair, then scrubbed at his skin until it was pink. Just as he was about to get out he caught his reflection in the metal siding of his shower door, and with a start realized he’d completely forgotten to take off the previous day’s makeup.

 _Fuck._ So much for not getting lectured.

Keith turned off the water then wrapped a towel around his waist before practically storming out, angry at the morning instead of himself. He wiped his hand across the mirror to clear it of its fog before taking out the makeup wipes he kept on hand, still grimacing at his reflection even after his face was wiped clean. No time for a face mask or even a quick once over with some moisturizer he walked into his bedroom, immediately digging through his closet. If he remembered correctly he was meeting with some new designer today and Zak had told him countless times he had to look his best.

Well, his best was still black skinny jeans, combat boots, and his leather jacket over a fitted, red henley.

He was outside and climbing into the black car waiting for him just five minutes later than he was supposed to be, and already his phone was ringing. With a sigh he answered, giving a half-assed “good morning, Zak.”

_“You were late! Really now, Kogane?! I’ve been in this business longer than you’ve been alive and I’ve never had to deal with anyone as chronically late as you are!”_

“It was five minutes, but okay. If you would just let me take my bike I would still get to the meeting on time and after actually getting to eat breakfast,” he pointed out, shooting a glare his driver’s way. It wasn’t really this guy’s fault, but did he have to _always_ go the speed limit?

 _“You’re lucky I even let you keep that damn thing. You know I think it’s a death trap, and if you die this company would be out thousands if not_ millions.”

Keith rolled his eyes, and leaned back in his seat, crossing one leg so his ankle was resting on his knee. “Yeah yeah, everything I do is gonna cost the company money.” Riding his bike, hanging out with his “disfigured” brother, seeing anyone that wasn’t some gorgeous woman in the industry, he’d heard it all. And if he heard it about his brother one more time Galra Industries was going to be short a manager…

_“Don’t you sass me, Kogane. I made you and I won’t hesitate to end you.”_

He wishes he would. But he wasn’t going to say that.

“Okay, well, I’ll be there soon. So if you’re so worried about everyone waiting on me, tell them to take five.” With that he hung up, glancing up at the driver through the rearview mirror. He didn’t miss the look he was receiving, the almost disapproving gaze looking back at him, but he couldn’t care less.

Just as they were pulling up to the company’s building, he saw a text from Shiro, and he couldn’t help but stare at it incredulously at first. Did he not realize how early it was?

 **_Shiro [5:04]:_ ** _Hey, good luck today. Be sure to let me know how it goes._

 **_Keith [5:06]:_ ** _Thanks. Will do._

 **_Keith [5:07]:_ ** _You wouldn’t happen to remember who I’m meeting, do you?_

 **_Shiro [5:07]:_ ** _Keith..._

“Mr. Kogane?”

He glanced up at the driver, then nodded, pushing himself from the car. “I’ll see you in what, a couple hours then?”

After getting a nod from the driver he walked through the revolving doors, hands stuffed in the pockets of his jacket. Zak was already waiting for him by the front desk, a new look of irritation Keith hadn’t seen before aimed directly at him.

Zak Galra was above all else, successful. He knew the industry like the back of his hand, knew exactly how to shape and mold Keith into a model that companies would pay big money to have represent them. Back in the day he had actually been a model himself, before the wrinkles and weight gain and hair loss--just on the top of his head too, truly unfortunate. Keith thought he was probably bitter about that and that was why he was such an insufferable dick.

“You’re late.”

“And your grey hair is showing. Next.”

Seeing the way his face turned red, almost purple, with the urge to yell at him made Keith smirk, one brow raised and just the corner of his lips pulling up. If the client weren’t standing a few feet away he knew he would be getting an earful--and he was likely going to later. Instead Zak took a deep breath, and put on that skeezy smile he used during negotiations.

“Well now that you’ve finally shown,” he started, speaking through his teeth, then forced himself to relax, “Ms. Nyma? Come over here won’t you darling?”

Keith looked towards the lobby and resisted the urge to wrinkle his nose. He had hoped he’d heard him wrong, but apparently he wouldn’t be so lucky. Now approaching them was the British model he’d had the misfortune of working with a couple times before, the woman simply known as “Nyma.” Like Cher. Or Stalin.

She was tall, even compared to other female models, with clear, lightly tanned skin and long, flowing blonde hair. She looked at him with big, purple eyes that she swore were natural even though he’d seen her once without the contacts, and a smile that he knew better than to trust.

“Pleasure to see you again, Keith,” she practically purred, holding a hand out to him.

He grunted in response, keeping his hands in his pockets.

“The pleasure is all ours,” Zak chimed in, taking her hand and pressing a kiss to the back of it. “Keith, you will be working with the lovely Nyma today for Calvin Klein. We will be moving to the hotel for the shoot now since the makeup artists and designers have already gone ahead.”

Great. Just what he wanted. He loved having to look like he was actually attracted to some spineless, soulless woman who always seemed to find work that focused on her breasts more than her face.

Once they were outside he took a moment to text Shiro again, needing some way to get out the pure disdain that he felt.

 **_Keith [5:25]:_ ** _Kill me._

 

Three days. Lance had to wait three days to see Keith again without texting him. Really, he should be applauded for his self control. He didn’t know many other people that would resist texting their celebrity crush after getting their phone number.

But he would do it. He _had_ to do it. He would make Keith think he was cool and not some bumbling fanboy.

“Dude, have you been paying any attention to us? Like, at all?” Hunk asked, brows furrowed.

“Obviously not, or he would have called you out for trying to hand me a literal neon sharpie when I asked if you had a highlighter,” Pidge pointed out, doodling with said sharpie anyway.

“Sorry,” Lance muttered, shrinking into himself for just a moment before their words set in. “Wait, why would you need a highlighter? ...And why would you ask Hunk and not me?!”

“You weren’t paying attention, and I wanted to draw a shiny dick on your forehead.”

“ _Pidge!_ ”

“What? You could have blended it,” they shrugged, focusing more on the robot drawn on their forearm. “You deserve it anyway.”

“For what?!”

They gave him an almost bored look, one brow raised and a frown on their face. “It’s been two days since the shoot, and if you’re not talking about Keith and how cool he is and ‘oh my god he’s so hot,’” they said, giving a surprisingly perfect impression of Lance with the back of their hand pressed to their forehead as if they were swooning, “then you’re staring at your phone rereading the what, three texts between you?”

“Hey, there’s nine!”

“And how many of those were sent by Keith?”

“...Three.”

Even Hunk snorted a laugh, earning a rather betrayed look from Lance.

“I’m sorry! It’s just really kind of funny. You never let me get away with any of my crushes when we were kids, it’s only fair.”

Before Lance could say anything Pidge piped in again, arms now crossed over their chest. “Did you even find out if he’s into dudes?”

Oh.

Shit.

Lance hadn’t thought to ask, but Keith _did_ mention taking the photographer out for dinner? The thought itself was enough for him to frown, a crease forming between his brows.

A crease that Pidge quickly filled with bright, neon pink.

He shrieked and quickly sat up, wiping furiously at his face to try and rub it away before it set on his skin. “Pidge, what the hell?!”

“You were getting that kicked puppy look! And if you’re getting that look that means that either you didn’t find out or he’s straight. Either way, it’s payback for the constant fawning over him.”

Lance frowned, unable to rely deny that logic, then sighed. “But guys he’s so pretty…”

Pidge and Hunk both groaned, long and drawn out, and the former dropped their head back dramatically against their friend.

“Man, what are we going to do with you…”

 

Three days. He actually managed three days, and now he was going to get to see Keith again. He had all of his own makeup packed up in his backpack--three regular sized makeup bags and two double-wides made by Lance himself holding his actual products while the larger palettes were left out--just in case he wasn’t allowed to use the actual studio yet.

He was waiting for Keith in the lobby, unable to keep his excitement at bay and bouncing on his heels much like an excited schoolgirl going on her first date. Except this wasn’t a date. It was a job. He was doing something to work towards his dream job with his dream man.

_Stop that._

“‘Sup,” Keith called, raising a hand in a slight wave as he approached.

Like the last time he saw him he was dressed casually, this time in a pair of joggers and a short-sleeve, galaxy print shirt with the words “The Moon Landing was Faked” in pretty, loopy lettering. This time Lance couldn’t suppress the snort of laughter that escaped him at the sight of it.

“What?” Keith asked, now standing directly in front of him with his brows furrowed.

“S-sorry, uh,” Lance coughed, trying to dispel the outright giggles that were threatening to break out, “I just didn’t expect you to wear such...I never thought you were actually a nerd..”

Keith, surprisingly enough, didn’t scowl at him like he expected. In fact, he looked more amused.

“Did you just call me a nerd?”

...Shit. Yes he did. He just called a supermodel a nerd. He should probably just go home now after insulting him-

“Dude, relax. I’m just...surprised. People usually bullshit me and tell me I’m ‘unique’ then side eye me when they think I’m not looking.”

Lance resisted the urge to flat out gape at him, and bit the inside of his cheek instead of letting his jaw drop. “So...you admit it then? You’re totally actually a nerd?”

That time Keith actually laughed, and if Lance thought he was hot when he was all dark and brooding, it didn’t even _compare_ to how unbelievably, jaw droppingly _gorgeous_ he was when he laughed. He closed his eyes when he laughed, his cheeks flushed and nose wrinkled cutely, and-

“Wow,” Lance breathed, and just like that he stopped. “Uh- I meant- _wow,_ I can’t believe what a dork you are. I mean, aliens? Conspiracies?”

Keith rolled his eyes, crossing his arms over his chest, but Lance could see the hint of a smile still lingering on his lips. “You saying you don’t believe? You seriously think we’re alone in the universe?” He must have seen the skeptic look on Lance’s face, because he honest to god _scoffed_ at him.

“Like you know everything about space!”

“More than you do,” he said matter-of-factly, then turned on his heel to walk towards the elevators.

Lance followed behind after a moment, genuinely caught off guard by just how...snarky the other man could be. That, and yes, okay, maybe he was more than a little distracted by Keith’s ass, sue him.

“So what did you have in mind for today?” Keith asked once he caught up. “I won’t have to ditch out early tonight, so don’t worry about time.”

It took him a moment to remember the entire reason he was there, then he smirked. “Y’know, I was going to go glam, but maybe we should do something more...dramatic.”

He quirked a brow, obviously looking for clarification, but Lance just stepped out of the elevator without a word, immediately going to one of the empty makeup stations to set down his bag. He was going to have fun with this.

 

Purple. Keith was _purple._

Lance had started with the basics, gave himself an even canvas with a pale foundation and powder, filled and shaped his eyebrows to arched perfection, and winged his eyeliner. Then he broke out the purple. When he picked up the color Keith assumed he had just decided to put it on his lids as an afterthought, but then he was dragging his brush beneath his jaw.

“Lance-”

“Hush, the master is working,” he murmured, the corner of his lips curling up ever so slightly.

After he was satisfied with his jawline he moved to his cheekbones, contouring him without blending any of the purple shadow, leaving the color bold and prominent. He added the color to his temples, the sides of his nose and curving up under his brows in thinner strokes, then mercifully set down the makeup brush.

“Can I ask now?” He murmured, watching his hands as he dug through one of the smaller makeup bags.

Lance hummed, showing he heard him, then glanced over his shoulder. “Y’know that mermaid fad that was going around? Where they countered with the bright colors and scales?”

“Yeah?”

“I wanted to do something similar, but more...alien,” he admitted, voice soft as he approached Keith once more, black lipstick on a thin brush in hand. He leaned in close, tilting the other man’s chin up with his free hand, and poked the tip of his tongue out in concentration as he moved the brush in careful strokes down the front of his nose and chin.

He was close, so close Keith could see the scar above his right eyebrow and the constellations of freckles across his cheeks and nose. He had looked gorgeous in the makeup from the shoot and the multitudes of selfies on instagram, but goddammit if he still didn’t look absolutely stunning without.

Keith tore his gaze away from the other man, and dropped it down to stare at his hands instead. “Okay but why?”

Lance gave a short bark of a laugh, and leaned back to get a better look at his work in progress. “Dunno, thought I would try and make the outside match the inside.”

That...wasn’t what he was expecting. Was he calling him an alien now? Seriously? Before he knew it he was laughing too, holding a hand out to keep Lance from trying to get back to work as he doubled over.

“I don’t know if I should be insulted or honored,” he laughed, carefully wiping tears from his eyes.

“Por que no los dos?” Lance grinned, pushing him into another round of giggles.

“Jesus, you’re dumb.”

And funny. And stupidly talented. And cute. But Keith wasn’t about to stroke his already inflamed ego.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> galra Keith cameo anyone? eh? ehhhh?  
> idrk I've seen some fanart of it that I really liked and thought I would roll with it lol  
> next chapter will have more of Keith's modeling and a possible scandal whaaaat?!


	4. Eat My Cosmic Dust

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance pretends to be genuinely interested in cryptids of his own volition and his friends see right through it. Keith fucks up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> remember how I said it might take a while to post again? let's all take a moment to laugh together.  
> did you guys know I run on sheer determination and willpower? because I do. and I couldn't NOT write this after watching the new season so work through the pain right? right???  
> fun fact: my best friend saw that I posted the last chapter the day after I busted my elbow and he proceeded to talk shit like "this fucking nerd broke themselves and is STILL writing fanfiction" and I can't even talk like yep, I'm that much of a dumpster fire what up *single finger gun*  
> ANYWAY  
> I really enjoyed writing Hunk and Pidge with Lance this chapter and had a lot of fun with the dialogue so I hope ya'll enjoy!  
> OH AND A WARNING: THERE'S SOME HOMOPHOBIA AT THE END OF THE CHAPTER

Lance couldn’t stop staring at his phone. After making Keith look like the alien he’d come to accept him as, he somehow managed to talk the model into not only letting him take pictures, but to take numerous selfies with him. He usually wasn’t one to take very many pictures with his naked face, but there was no way he was going to let this opportunity slide. Besides, that’s what filters were for--not that anyone would be looking at him with Keith beside him.

They had taken some regular ones, Keith unable to keep his brooding, picture-ready expressions at bay, but Lance had also managed to get a couple more...candid ones. Ones with his own face twisted in a purposefully ugly sneer, then the aftermath with Keith grinning at him, nose wrinkled and brows furrowed as if he couldn’t believe someone could actually look like that and a small, almost shy smile on his own face. Of course he had opted to post one of the more normal pictures on his instagram, captioning it with various emojis that Keith had rolled his eyes at when he saw Lance typing it up, and saved the one of them smiling for himself. It may or may not had been made his phone’s wallpaper.

Lance had decided he preferred to see Keith smiling instead of smoldering. He looked more...like a normal person that way.

It was weird though.

Before he was like Lance’s idol, the endgame that he was striving to achieve. He was suave and sophisticated and everything the magazines portrayed him to be. Except...he wasn’t like that at all. He was actually kind of a dork.

Like a huge dork.

He believed in aliens and Mothman and Bigfoot and other junk like that. He had the driest sense of humor of anyone he’d ever met, and he was honestly kind of terrible in social situations. He was pretty sure, but that didn’t even really matter anymore.

“You’re seeing him more like a normal person,” Hunk pointed out one day, looking at him over his shoulder as he spoke. “You’re talking to him more now too aren’t you?”

“He says he’s ‘schooling me’ on the ‘important stuff,’” Lance said, throwing in the air quotes, and rolled his eyes. “Seriously, like the Jersey Devil is so important? What thing with a horse head and goat body can _fly?_ There’s no way that thing can exist, I don’t care how many reported sightings there are.”

Hunk stared at him like he was speaking another language, brows furrowed and mouth turned down in the corners, and gave the slowest nod. “Yeah, okay, buddy. All I’m saying is you actually seem really interested in all the weird stuff he tells you. Do you realize you ranted at me about Mothman for two hours yesterday? Two. Hours.”

“ _Because he’s obsessed with that thing!”_ Lance practically screamed, exasperated. “Did you know he spent his last break off of work going to see the freaking statue built for it?”

“You may have mentioned that once or twice,” he sighed fondly, turning back to the oven to retrieve the tray of cookies. “You said he’s in London now for a shoot, right?”

“Yeah, I told him he should try and find Owlman and he told me not to patronize him.”

Hunk glanced over at him, one brow raised, and carefully put in his second tray. “Uh...what now?”

“Apparently there’s a creatures called Owlman in Cornwall. I looked it up and I thought it was close enough to Mothman for him-”

“Wait wait wait...did you just say you looked it up? You actually researched weird creatures for him to look into while he was there?”

Lance felt his cheeks heating up, and shook his head quickly. “What? No! It just...it came up on...my facebook so I thought...shut up!”

“Look, there’s nothing to be embarrassed about. I’ve had to go to that makeup shop more times than I’d like to admit with Shay, so I get it.”

The door to Hunk’s apartment then opened, and Pidge, the tiny gremlin, Lance’s personal savior, walked in, their small arms full of bags. With a huff they all but dropped what they were holding on the kitchen table, the various metal parts clanking against each other as they did.

“Why didn’t you just take two trips? Or call me?” Hunk asked, frowning when he saw his friend rubbing their arms.

“That’s for quitters. Anyway, you get what?”

“Lance taking interest in the weird stuff Keith’s into.”

“Hey!”

“Oh is _that_ why you were texting me about Mothman?”

“What?! No! I just- I...shut up!”

Pidge hopped up on the counter, looking thoroughly unimpressed. “Brilliant comeback. Man, I’m just glad you finally shut up over how pretty he is. At least now he seems interesting. Seriously, I don’t think I could have pretended to like him if you two ended up dating and he was about as engaging as Rover,” they said, gesturing to wherever the roomba may have been in the apartment.

“Hey you love Rover,” Hunk pointed out, stepping back from assembling the little cardboard treat box for the cookies to look at Pidge.

“And I love whoever ends up saddled with either of you two, but that doesn’t mean I find them mentally engaging. Remember that girl Lance dated freshman year? She was sweet and all and I know she made you happy, but holy quiznak was she boring. And I know I make fun of you a lot, but I still want you to be with someone deserving of your time and energy.”

Lance could only stare at them a moment, letting his friend’s words sink in, before he stepped closer and tugged at their ear, earning a sharp “ow” and a punch to the chest.

“What?! I had to make sure it was really you!” Lance explained, rubbing at where they jabbed him. “That was just...really sweet, Pidge. I love you too, buddy.”

“I didn’t say that.”

“I mean, not in so many words but you kinda did,” Hunk said with a shrug.

They rolled their eyes, and leaned back against the cupboards, crossing their arms over their chest. “Yeah okay, fine. But if either of you tell anyone I’ll deny it.”

“Fair enough,” the boys agreed.

Lance sighed then, and checked his phone for what felt like the hundredth time that day. “Would it be weird to call him? He told me he was sneaking off after his shoot was done and he hasn’t said anything since.”

“Nah, leave it be. He’s a grown man, he can take care of himself.”

 

Keith never drank.

Okay, that was a lie. He drank a lot in high school while hanging out in parking lots like most teenagers that wanted to be edgy. But after he grew out of that admittedly short-lived stage, he didn’t really see the point. He had better things to do with his time, and he didn’t like feeling out of control of his own body.

Today however, he wanted a “bloody drink.”

He was hired to pose for PAUSE magazine, and while the shoot went well enough--the designers were pleasant, photographer was enthusiastic--the other models were _insufferable._ Whoever said British guys were the sexiest could meet him in the lobby for a personal ass kicking, because he had never met someone more irritating than the self-proclaimed “real gangster blokes” he met that day.

At the end of the shoot he was invited to go to dinner with them, but dipped out with the excuse he was still a bit jetlagged from his flight. He told them he was going back to his hotel, but told Zak he would be going out with the others knowing he would be too busy schmoozing the other managers and making connections to even realize he was gone.

After a quick google search and a cab ride, he found himself in one of London’s most popular gay clubs, XXL. The crowd was huge, inside was always dark, and from what he’d seen of reviews, everyone was pretty hush-hush about it. It was perfect. He ordered a few shots at the bar, letting the other men standing there assume the others were for a group of friends so they wouldn’t talk to him for too long, then made his way around the dance floor to a more secluded corner of the club.

He took his shots one after another, taking his time with the first two, then throwing back his third and fourth almost impatiently. He was tense, and he knew if he could just get himself to loosen up, he could possibly brighten his mood and have an enjoyable, stress-free day in the city tomorrow.

The only problem with his plan was while his frustrations were released, so were his inhibitions. The music was loud, the bass rocking through his body, smooth and infectious, and the temptation of those dancing before him were growing stronger and stronger. Maybe a couple dances would help get his mind off things. The stress from working, the irritation from the constant nagging from Zak to keep his personal life in check, the smile from a brown boy with stars in his eyes.

Yeah, he should dance with someone.

As if reading his mind--or maybe his body language--someone approached him. Someone beautiful. He had tan skin, bleached hair, stubble, and a mischievous smirk. Even sober he would have found this guy attractive, but unapproachable. Drunk, he knew he could have this stranger wrapped around his finger.

“Hey,” he called over the music, his voice rugged but a bit rough. “You wanna dance?”

“Yes,” Keith breathed, taking the hand extended to him.

He let himself be led to the dancefloor, his body tucked between his partner’s and a couple strangers’. He moved his hips with a fluidity he never could have let himself achieve sober, and draped his arms around the other man’s neck, letting himself be tugged closer. This was something that--while he never really went out and did these things often even before he was prohibited by contract--he missed. The feeling of another person pressed against you, pulling you closer and closer because they found you so irresistible they physically couldn’t keep their hands off.

It wasn’t like Keith was lonely. He had friends and colleagues he saw countless times a week, he was never alone save for when he slept, but he, like everyone else, had needs. And when he was under the influence those needs were a bit more dire.

He felt hands slide from his hips to his ass, and looked up at the other man through half-lidded eyes.

“What’s your name?” He asked, putting his lips to his ear so he wouldn’t have to speak as loudly to be heard.

“Rolo.”

“You wanna take me home, Rolo?”

 

He fucked up. Oh god did he fuck up.

Keith woke up to sunlight, sunlight and cigarette smoke assaulting his senses. He wrinkled his nose, and pushed himself so he was sitting up in bed, noticing two things the moment he opened his eyes. One, this wasn’t his hotel room. Two, his clothes were on the floor.

“Mornin’ sunshine.”

Keith looked over his naked shoulder, and after a moment of just _staring_ recognized the smirking face looking back at him.

“Hey. Uh…”

“Rolo.”

“Right, yeah, Rolo. You uh...you know my name?”

“No, you never mentioned it. I think I know your boyfriend’s name though.”

He could only blink at him at first, confusion written on his face plain as day. “What...what are you talking about?”

“Yeah, you said some guy’s name last night, and I noticed you got a few texts from him,” he said matter-of-factly, flicking the ash from his cigarette into the cup beside his bed.

“N-no it’s not- you don’t-”

“It’s no big deal,” he shrugged, running a hand through his blonde hair before crossing his arm behind his head. “You’re a tourist, out on the town in an exciting new country. Not like we’ll ever see each other again.”

Keith dropped his gaze to his lap, a white sheet pooling at his hips, and finally nodded. This guy didn’t know who he was, maybe it wasn’t as bad as he thought it was…

“Well, I’m gonna…” he muttered, gesturing to his clothes as he awkwardly got out of bed. He pulled on his boxer briefs and black harem pants, then grabbed his “Eat My Cosmic Dust” shirt, wrinkling his nose at the scent of alcohol lingering on it. Thankfully his hoodie smelled alright, so he pulled that on instead, zipping the zipper all the way before stuffing his shirt in his pocket.

“Want me to call a cab?”

“Yeah, uh, please.”

All he wanted to do was get back to his hotel room and take a shower, scrub away the scent of booze and regret, then curl into bed. To hell with sight-seeing, he didn’t need to hit up any stupid tourist traps or ask around about Owlman.

He left Rolo’s flat once the cab arrived, leaving him with an awkward wave and a refusal to meet his gaze, and all but fell into the seat once he gave the driver the name of his hotel. He pulled out his phone and frowned at the number of texts awaiting him

**_Allura [23:05]:_ ** _I know you might not have time, but really you should try to visit London’s Science Museum. They have a brilliant space exhibit I think you’d enjoy immensely._

**_Allura [23:07]:_ ** _Plus you know how I feel about ridiculous gift shop gifts and my birthday is coming up ;)_

Keith rolled his eyes, but couldn’t help the incredibly tired but fond smile on his face.

**_Keith [8:25]:_ ** _Your gift is my brother, and no, he does not come with a receipt. Happy birthday._

His other messages were from Lance and Zak, and he would rather avoid that headache for as long as possible.

**_Lance [00:00]:_ ** _hey hows the big city treatin you?_

**_Lance [00:01]:_ ** _wait thats new york. And you already live here._

**_Lance [00:03]:_ ** _well hows the british big city treatin you? You run into owlman yet?_

**_Lance [00:04]:_ ** _i know you think hes lame or whatever but cmon hes totally cooler than mothman_

**_Keith [08:29]:_ ** _I will not stand for this blasphemy. Mothman is my boyfriend and I will defend him to my last breath._

**_Lance [8:31]:_ ** _damn, outdone by some weird bug dude that totally doesn’t exist :(_

**_Keith [8:33]:_ ** _I don’t think we can be friends anymore if you’re going to disrespect Mothman in this way._

**_Keith [8:35]:_ ** _Also isn’t it like 3am there? Why are you up?_

**_Lance [8:40]:_ ** _uhhhhhhhhhhhhh(hx3) no reason. Gnight._

With a sigh he switched over to his last unopened message.

**_Zak [6:30]:_ ** _Where the hell are you Kogane?_

Well that’s relatively painless at least. He didn’t have any shoots that day, so he could just claim he went out early that morning and was out on the town and didn’t think to check his phone. That would buy him a few hours at least.

Once in front of his hotel he paid the cabbie then slipped inside, careful not to be seen and staying on the lookout for his manager as he made his way up to his room. Keith sighed in relief once he was safely on the other side of his hotel room door, and he quickly flipped the deadbolt. Leaving his phone on his bed he went straight for the bathroom, ready to wash away the very memories of the night before from his subconscious.

Twenty minutes later he was drying his hair with one towel, the other wrapped securely around his hips as he went to check his phone for texts from friends he knew wouldn’t be there. What was waiting for him however, was a series of noticeably angry texts as well as a couple missed calls and voicemails he knew would be just as enraged as the messages.

...They could wait until he was dressed. Hell, they could wait forever.

Zak however, could not.

Within ten minutes of being out of the shower his manager was pounding at his door, demanding he let him in. Keith sighed and managed to drag himself out from under the plush covers, and with an impending sense of dread undid the locks and opened the door.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing, Kogane?!” Zak snapped, pushing himself into the room then slamming the door shut behind him.

“Uh, sleeping?”

“Don’t you get smart with me, boy, you’re already on my bad side.”

Keith rolled his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest, leaning back against the wall. “Sorry for trying to sleep in then, I thought my schedule was freed up. We done here?”

“Not unless you can explain this shit,” he said, shoving his phone in his face.

He glared pointedly at the distance between them, or the lack-there-of, and took the phone from his hand. He let his intensely angry gaze linger on Zak for a couple moments before finally looking at the screen, his blood running cold at what he saw.

There was a picture of him, dark and a bit grainy, taken as he was leaving the club with Rolo last night. Above the picture read the headline: “KEITH K GAY?”

He could only stare at the article at first, not really reading any of it, and after what felt like an eternity he finally looked back at Zak.

“ _Yeah._ I told you you could live whatever sort of fag lifestyle it is you’ve chosen, but _don’t_ let it interfere with your work. This is _exactly_ what I was talking about, Kogane! Now tell me how the fuck we’re supposed to get you out of this one?!”

Confess the truth? Admit his sexuality and let everyone move on? He really didn’t think it was that big of a deal, but judging by the dark glare he was receiving, it was.

He really did fuck up.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oooooooh Keeeeeeith whatchu gonna do now?  
> and yes, Owlman is a real thing and it had me cackling, and so is the Mothman statue. and I LIVE for the "Keith is obsessed with Mothman" headcanon so here ya go  
> ALSO. GUESS WHO'S FINALLY ON TUMBLR AGAIN BECAUSE I CAN DO LITERALLY NOTHING ELSE? so feel free to scream at me on there or cry over the new season with me, my tumblr is [imbadatnamesbutihaveanicebutt.tumblr.com](imbadatnamesbutihaveanicebutt.tumblr.com)


	5. I Want to Leave

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith is panicking, Lance is panicking, they get together and somehow two anxious messes cancel each other out and everyone's happy.  
> Until Zak goes and fucks it up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> woooah this got away from me  
> ...again  
> so yeah, I decided to work on this again instead of starting my Keith jacket for con in March because I hate myself *the biggest shrug emoji*  
> prepare yourselves for bffs Lance and Hunk because guys, I love Hunk so fucking much. he's so good and pure and I must protect.

Suspended until further notice. And by further notice, they meant until the Galra executives decided what to do with him. Keith was a nervous wreck. He was supposed to lay low until then, avoid social media and any reporters until they could come up with an excuse for him being seen at that club with another man.

It was...infuriating to say the least. He knew that things still weren’t perfect and that him being gay could have a negative impact on business, but he didn’t think it would be this catastrophic. He liked to think that people were better than that, that they could move past this and see him for his work and not his sexuality. Besides, they could just deny the rumor! It wasn’t like they had anything to go off of aside from the photo outside the club.

Except...maybe his friendship with Lance could be misconstrued.

After all, he never took selfies with people, let alone post one on his own social media. He hadn’t thought anything of it at the time, but maybe it was too personal, left too much to imagination and speculation. And to be fair it...well it wouldn’t really be too far from the truth to assume something was going on between them. Lance was attractive, he could admit that, and yes, he would tap that in a heartbeat. He liked the friendship they had, liked talking to Lance about stuff he never really got the chance to talk to other people about and have him actually be interested in what he was saying. But that didn’t mean anything. He was allowed friends, and it wasn’t unheard of for someone to be attracted to their friends and not act on it.

But he could see this being a problem. Now that the idea was put in the public’s minds they would look for anything they could find to prove the rumors forming true. Maybe he just shouldn’t-

No, no that wasn’t right. He was allowed friends and a life outside of his work. He _deserved_ friends and a life, he was a human being not a mannequin.

Keith groaned loudly, and stopped mid-pace, moving instead to drop down to his sofa. He hadn’t really left his apartment since he got home three days ago, and aside from the occasional “still alive” text to Shiro, stopped responding to messages. Not that he got many texts in the first place, just his brother checking in, Allura sending him company updates and dumb things Shiro did, and...Lance. He felt shitty for ignoring him, but he just...he didn’t think he could handle it. When Keith was panicked, he was vulnerable, and when he was vulnerable, he made mistakes. Dumb, stupid mistakes like actually _showing_ his vulnerability to another person.

He sighed when he realized he was looking at the message thread between them, the last one sent from him dated just an hour before he left London, and the last from Lance received...an hour ago. Lance was doing nothing to hide his concern, and while usually he would appreciate that someone was putting forth real effort with him, it did nothing to soothe his guilt.

**_Lance [19:30]:_ ** _hey buddy, just saw Allura and she told me you were okay but I still wanted to check in_

**_Lance [21:00]:_ ** _we don’t have to like actually talk or anything but could you tell me if I should worry?_

**_Lance [21:02]:_ ** _like do I gotta kick someone’s ass?_

**_Lance [21:03]:_ ** _I know I have noodle arms but I’m fueled by wholesome memes and the fury of a thousand suns for anyone that hurts the people I care about_

Keith sighed again, dropping his phone to his lap, and rubbed his hands over his face. He was a shitty friend.

**_Keith [21:07]:_ ** _Hey. Nothing to worry about, just stressed._

**_Lance [21:08]:_ ** _that wouldn’t have anything to do with the article Allura was ranting about??_

**_Keith [21:15]:_ ** _...Yeah. Yeah it does._

**_Lance [21:20]:_ ** _is it true? I mean, I kno you’re into mothman and all that but idrk if that counts as a man so much as a literal bug_

**_Keith [21:30]:_ ** _Yeah. It is. But no one is supposed to know._

**_Lance [21:32]:_ ** _secret’s safe with me buddy ;)_

**_Lance [21:33]:_ ** _seriously tho thanks for telling me. I kno its probably a big thing and annoying to deal with but I’m sure it’ll be gucci. I’ll leave you alone now if you want??_

Yes, that was what he wanted. He wanted to just deal with this-- _alone--_ then move on with his career and his life. Keith pushed himself from his sofa, phone discarded on the floor, and stomped to his bedroom, slamming his door with far more force than necessary. He threw himself face first onto his bed, and put a pillow over his head, as if it could protect him from his own thoughts.

 

Lance sighed after checking his phone for the fourth time in the last thirty minutes since his last text from Keith. The last few days were actual torture, and while finally hearing from the other man _did_ put his mind somewhat at ease, he wasn’t sure he could handle much more. It was nerve wracking knowing that his friend was suffering and there was nothing he could do about it.

He dropped his head back against the cushions with a loud, drawn out groan, and tucked his knees up to his chest. This was the worst.

Distraction. He needed a distraction, but his usual “bury yourself in makeup and beat your face until you can’t feel feelings” wasn’t going to work this time. What did Pidge do when they needed a distraction?

...They made robots.

Definitely not.

Hunk?

Hunk baked. Lance couldn’t really bake, but he could cook. And Hunk _did_ just go grocery shopping…

Lance pushed himself up from the floor and practically scurried into the kitchen, mentally going over every recipe he knew and what foods would hold up in the freezer and getting nuked in the microwave as he did. He pulled up his spotify and hit play on his “hype” playlist, turning the volume up all the way before setting his phone on top of the microwave.

He decided he should probably make a peace offering to Hunk for using the groceries, so he started with fajitas, busying his hands with cutting and slicing the veggies. After chopping enough peppers and onions to sustain them for months to come he set them aside then got the chicken from the fridge. He dumped the slices of chicken and vegetables into a skillet and got out all the spices his mother used, all the while shaking his hips to the soothing beats of Rihanna’s album ANTI and just letting himself get lost in it.

The fajitas were finished a couple hours after his endeavor started, and the apartment was filled with the pleasant, familiar aroma of spices. Lance was carefully stirring the beginnings of his famous fruit salsa when Hunk walked into the apartment, interrupting his rhythm with his surprised sputtering.

“Hey,” Lance said sheepishly, setting down his paring knife. “I uh...made fajitas.”

“It’s almost midnight,” Hunk pointed out, incredulous, as he dropped his work bag to the floor. When he saw the tortillas and filling set up on the table his eyes widened even more, looking between Lance and the food again and again. “Did you use _all_ the chicken and peppers?”

“No,” he tried, dragging out the word, and quickly stepped in Hunk’s way when he tried to get to the fridge. “Yes,” he corrected, dropping his gaze to the floor.

Hunk sighed, because while he was incredibly exasperated, he knew his best friend and his nervous habits. He rubbed a hand over his face and set a comforting hand on Lance’s shoulder, finally ducking his head down to meet his gaze.

“You finish the salsa and I’ll start cleaning up, okay? Then you can tell me what’s got you down.”

“Okay… you want me to turn on Halsey?”

“Please.”

Luckily, Hunk was used to Lance’s habits, so he was used to cleanup duty. He dumped the scraps, the stems from peppers and outer layers of the onions, into the trash with practiced precision then started the dishes. The two worked around each other in comfortable silence, moving with the ease that could only come from years and years of companionship.

“So how’s Shay? You took her out before work, right?” Lance asked, noticing that he was working slower than before and needing the added distraction. That, and he always wanted to hear about Hunk’s day.

“Yeah, really good, she’s good,” he smiled, his brown eyes shining fondly. “We’ve both been really busy lately with work and school and stuff so it’d been a while. It was fun though, we went to that one store she likes then walked around the park and I gave her that necklace I ordered awhile ago.”

“Oh, the sunstone one you were talking about?” Hunk nodded. “You got… no no, don’t tell me… it had that little charm with ‘you are my sunshine’ on it, right?” Lance teased, narrowing his eyes at his friend when he saw the familiar blush spreading across his cheeks. “Hunk my man, you’re too good for this world. So’s Shay though. Like, seriously, you two are soulmates and nothing can convince me otherwise.”

Though he was still obviously embarrassed Hunk beamed, puffing his chest proudly with his hands on his hips. “Yeah? I think so too.”

Lance finished scooping the salsa into one of Hunk’s more obscenely large tupperware containers after setting aside a hearty amount for the fajitas, then helped his friend clean up the remainder of the mess. The two then rewarded themselves with food, because _nothing_ was better than Lance’s stress cooking, and moved to eat in the livingroom.

“So,” Hunk started around a mouthful of chicken, then swallowed before continuing, “what’s up, buddy?”

Lance groaned, long and drawn out, and once again dropped his head back against the sofa’s cushions. He let his friend move his plate from his lap to the coffee table, and he instead moved his hands to cover his face. “Everything is terrible.”

“Specifics?”

“Keith is really stressed out and like I’m worried about him but it’s probably weird because we’re just friends but like I want to hold his dumb hand and cuddle him until everything gets better for him because he’s really good and he doesn’t deserve all the dumb stuff he’s dealing with and- and-”

“Lance.”

“Yeah?”

“Breathe.”

“Okay,” Lance breathed, dropping his hands to his lap, and stared up at the ceiling. “I just… I dunno, Hunk. I used to just want to bend him over and get a piece of that, but now I want to like… hold him and protect him and make sure his life is good.”

“You like him, Lance.”

“Well yeah but like...it’s weird,” he grumbled, brows furrowed, and glanced at his friend. “It’s weird, right? I shouldn’t _really_ care, like we’re just friends.”

Hunk frowned, setting his own plate down beside Lance’s now, then clapped his hands together. “Okay, well, I don’t know what’s going on with him, but let’s say it was happening to me?”

“I would kill a man to defend your honor, don’t play this game with me.”

“And with Pidge?”

“I’ve already gotten in like two fist fights for them,” Lance pointed out, crossing his arms over his chest.

“See? That’s just how you are with your friends. It’s not weird to want to protect the people you care about, and you definitely care about Keith. I’m sure he appreciates the sentiment if nothing else.”

Lance pursed his lips, taking a moment to close his eyes and really think over his friend’s words, then just sighed again. “But what if he just wants me to leave him alone? I don’t work like that, Hunk.”

“I don’t think anyone ever really wants to be alone when they’re fighting something, it’s just something they say.”

He opened his mouth to reply when he noticed the light on his phone blinking, signaling a message. It came in ten minutes ago, and when he saw who it was from his heart sank into his stomach.

**_Keith [01:30]:_ ** _Please don’t._

Lance excused himself to his bedroom after thanking Hunk for everything, giving him a parting fist bump before all but running off. With his door closed behind him he slid to the floor, knees pulled to his chest.

**_Lance [01:41]:_ ** _don’t what? you don’t want to talk about it anymore?_

**_Keith [01:45]:_ ** _...No._

**_Lance [01:46]:_ ** _wanna get your mind off of it?_

**_Keith [01:48]:_ ** _Yeah._

**_Keith [01:50]:_ ** _Do you want to do something tomorrow? Together?_

**_Keith [01:51]:_ ** _Unless that’s weird then just forget I asked._

**_Lance [01:51]:_ ** _anything you need man. I am the MASTER of ignoring things I don’t want to deal with tbh_

**_Keith [01:55]:_ ** _Great. Thanks. I’m...gonna go to sleep now. Text me when you want to get together tomorrow._

 

He was making a mistake. Keith knew he was only going to fuck things up further, but he just...he couldn’t do it anymore, couldn’t just hide out in his apartment and wait for things to blow over. He couldn’t put his life on hold anymore.

At just after ten he got the text from Lance, and the two of them decided on meeting up at a coffee shop located between their two apartments without any real further plans set. When Keith got there the other man had beat him, leaning against the front wall of the shop and tapping away at his phone. Lance seemed to perk up when he approached, but only fully turned towards him when Keith called his name. The taller man grinned, visibly brightening in a matter of seconds when his gaze focused on him.

Yeah, definitely making a mistake.

“Hey there--oh my god what is your sweater this time? ‘I want to leave’? Seriously?” Lance laughed, pocketing his phone as he stepped forward to meet him halfway. “I had all these foolproof plans to get your mind off stuff and you wear _that?_ I’m offended.”

Keith glanced down at his own sweater then put on a smirk, raising a brow at the other man. “Sorry I gave you standards to live up to. I fully expect you to wow me. Then I’ll consider taking off the sweater.”

“You challenging me to get you out of your clothes?” He paired his question with a wink, and suddenly Keith regretted every decision he’d made that led him to that point.

He also couldn’t help but thank them too.

Instead of showing his embarrassment he rolled his eyes, further covering it up with a scoff. “Yeah, okay, whatever. Now that you put it that way I’m raising my standards even further.”

They started with the arcade down the street. It was old and family-owned, and though the air smelled a bit stale, the nostalgia that came from the arcade games’ bright lights and chipper tunes was enough to mask it. The two stuck to the two-player games, fueled by a newfound rivalry and a competitiveness Keith hadn’t felt in a long time.

“Y’know, you don’t have to go easy on me if that’s what you’re doing,” Keith smirked, leaning forward against the air hockey machine with one hand propping him up. “I’d hate to think someone _actually_ sucks this hard at everything.” To prove his point he shot the puck directly through Lance’s goal as if it was nothing.

“Yeah yeah, lucky shot!” Lance scoffed, then grumbled something unintelligible under his breath as he fetched the puck. “I’d like to see you beat me at _real_ hockey!”

“Lance, I do not believe for even a second that you can play hockey, let alone stay up on your feet on the ice.”

“Oh ye of little faith!”

After Keith beat him at yet another round of air hockey Lance loudly declared that they were leaving, grabbing him by the wrist and dragging him back out of the arcade. Keith laughed, his eyes bright, and let himself be led outside.

“Wow, didn’t take you as this much of a sore loser.”

“I’m not a sore loser!” Lance quickly snapped back, the excitement in his eyes showing that he wasn’t really upset with him. “I just have a point to prove now.”

Keith rolled his eyes but grinned as he walked behind Lance, paying no mind to the hand that had drifted from his wrist to hold his own. They walked in a surprisingly comfortable silence, and for a moment, Keith could actually forget his worries. Then they reached their destination.

“Rockefeller? Really? You really took that hockey comment to heart, didn’t you?” He laughed, shoving his shoulder against Lance’s.

“Just wait, you’re gonna eat your words!”

They got their skates, and after Lance made a show of tying both his and Keith’s skates--because Keith was doing them “too loose” and he was going to “eat ice” or whatever--he pulled him to his feet. If his wobbling over to the rink was anything to go off of...this was a mistake.

Lance however didn’t seem to have any problems. He stepped onto the ice and immediately spun to face him, looking at Keith with a smirk.

“Need a hand, Bambi?” He teased, offering both hands as Keith followed after him.

Keith scoffed, feigning confidence, and went to take a single step forward before almost immediately falling to the ice. “Fuck!” He swore loudly, falling forward into the other man’s waiting arms.

Without a word--but plenty of mocking laughter--Lance gingerly pulled him forward, slowly skating backwards with what could only be practiced ease.

“Seriously? What the actual fuck, Lance?”

He shrugged, his smirk fading to an almost fond smile as they finished their first lap of the rink. “I took lessons in high school, thought it would help impress the ladies,” he said matter-of-factly, spinning so he was skating by his side instead.

“And did it?”

“Not really. It got me a boy’s number though, so I mean it kinda did?”

Keith snorted a laugh, and tightened his grip on the other man’s hand when he almost lost his balance again. “Y’know, something tells me you’ve done a lot of stupid shit to try and woo people.”

“Sorry that I’m such a Casanova.”

“Sounds fake, but okay.”

“Don’t be mad just ‘cause you got no game,” Lance scoffed, but there was still a grin on his face.

“You realize that article about me showed me going home with a guy, right?”

His smile seemed to fade for just a moment before Lance quickly fixed it. The only difference between that smile and his new one was his new one didn’t quite meet his eyes. “Fair enough.”

After one too many near death experiences they stepped off the ice, and Keith dropped down to the nearest available seat to immediately yank his skates off. He was probably just seeing things, right? They were friends, why would it matter if he hooked up with someone? Besides, Lance was just talking about getting a guy’s number.

“Here, let me help,” Lance offered, noticing the way he struggled with the knot on one skate, and reached down to set a hand on the back of his calf, guiding Keith to put his foot in his lap. “Sorry, you gotta do these tight so you don’t hurt yourself.”

Lance left him to return their skates, and Keith stayed where he was sitting, tugging his boots on. He actually was feeling better. He was able to think about the whole ordeal with the article without internally combusting or screaming into the cosmic abyss, so he really couldn’t complain. Especially if Lance was going to continue holding his hand.

Fuck.

The other man returned several minutes later, interrupting his bouts of doubt and regret setting in. “I was thinking we could go get lunch somewhere? There’s a great pizza place around here that I think you’ll like.”

“Okay,” he nodded, and without really thinking, took the hand extended towards him. “So since you totally embarrassed me on the ice there, it’s your treat, right?”

“How come I didn’t get anything when you beat my ass at like...every game?!”

Keith shrugged, turning his head away to hide the grin on his face. “Little late for that, don’t you think? You gotta learn to leave your mistakes in the past.”

“Oh shut up,” Lance laughed, hip checking him with a surprising amount of strength Keith hadn’t expected from him. “I’m gonna remember that the next time you beat me at something.”

“Already preparing to lose?”

Lance sputtered for a moment, seemingly at a loss for a comeback, and Keith couldn’t help but notice the blush spreading across his cheeks. “Man, I hate you!” He finally settled on.

He pat his arm in a patronizingly comforting way with his free hand, unable to keep the smirk off his face. “You’re a really shit liar, Lance.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever.”

Just as Lance went to open the door to the pizzeria for him, Keith felt his phone going off on his pocket. He sighed and waved the other man off, dipping into the alley flanking the restaurant before pulling his cell out of his joggers. He looked down at the screen, and felt his stomach churn uncomfortably when he saw the caller.

“What do you want, Zak?” He asked, not letting the other man get the first word in.

_“What the hell are you doing? What part of_ lay low _don’t you understand?”_

“I went out, what of it?”

_“Yeah, with who? Because in case you didn’t know, there are pictures being posted, and that doesn’t look like your fucking cripple brother.”_

“ _Watch it,_ Zak,” he practically growled, glaring at the wall opposite him.

_“You’re already on thin fucking ass Kogane, and instead of doing what you’re told, you go out with some other faggot than the first one you got caught with! What the hell do you think you’re doing?!”_

“He’s...just a friend.”

_“Yeah? Well you better tell your fucking friend to beat it. You hear me, Kogane? If you don’t drop that kid not only is it gonna put your ass on the chopping block, but I’ll make damn sure that hack’s career is ruined before it can even start.”_ With that Zak hung up, the older man’s screaming in his ear replaced by an uncomfortable ringing.

Keith didn’t really care about his career anymore. If things were ruined with Galra he knew he had friends to fall back on, his education. But Lance? He couldn’t ruin this for him. He refused. And if ruining their friendship or whatever...this really was was all it took to protect Lance’s dreams, then that’s what Keith would do. No matter how much it would fucking hurt.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay okay okay okay okay so like  
> I know you guys are probably pissed at me for the cliffhanger, especially that one  
> BUT  
> this chapter was gonna be waaaaaaaaaay angsty-er and instead I wrote a date that they haven't acknowledged as a date whoops  
> my tumblr is [imbadatnamesbutihaveanicebutt](http://imbadatnamesbutihaveanicebutt.tumblr.com/) if ya'll want to come scream at me or maybe cry over Voltron


	6. Keep Calm and Carry On

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's the last thing Keith wants to do, but he refuses to let Lance crash and burn.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey guys! sorry for disappearing on you for like...a month. a lot has been going on, some good some bad, but I'm back and hopefully will be back to updating semi-regularly! hope you guys are still with me on this, because boy do I have some things planned

Lance jiggled his leg under the table, looking anywhere and everywhere to try and keep himself grounded. This was fine, everything was fine, it was just… two bros hanging out, doing normal friend stuff like video games and pizza and… ice skating… and holding hands. But that was nothing! They were just friends. Friends friends friends.

He stretched his arms across the booth, and dropped his head to the table with a barely audible thud, groaning quietly either in his head or out loud he wasn’t quite sure anymore. He… wasn’t really sure of anything anymore.

Well okay, that was a lie. He knew Hunk and Pidge had his back. He knew Allura liked him and his work. He knew he had a future with Altea Cosmetics. What he didn’t know was where he stood with Keith. They were at least friends, he knew that much, but he also knew that he wanted more than that. God, as if seeing his dumb smile and his stupidly endearing alien shirts weren’t enough, he _held his hand today._ He held his hand and _Lance_ was the reason he had gone from wallowing to grinning and laughing.

But what if that was just how Keith was with friends? He didn’t exactly have many interactions he could compare this with, the only other people he’d seen Keith with were his brother and his brother’s girlfriend. He could smile and laugh with his brother, but he definitely didn’t see him being affectionate with him--with _anyone_ really.

“Um...sir?”

Lance rocketed back up, promptly whacking his head on the wooden part of the booth. He clenched his jaw but otherwise pretended he hadn’t just embarrassed himself, and propped his chin up in his palm.

“Oh my god I’m so sorry! Are you okay? I just- um, what did you want to drink?” The waitress asked, nervously fidgeting with the small notepad in her hands.

“Right, um. Water. Just--two waters.”

“O-okay. Do you need more time to look over the menu?”

“Yeah, my-” friend? Date? “Keith will be right back.”

“Your Keith, huh?”

He wondered what the chances were of paying someone to shoot him?

Keith slid into the seat opposite him, and nodded to the waitress before she nodded back and went to return to her station. When he met his eye he waved him off.

“She looked kinda freaked so I assumed you did something weird,” he explained, crossing his arms on the table. “Was I wrong?”

“What? Yes!” Lance said quickly, his cheeks flushed. Then he saw the skeptic look on Keith’s face and realized how weird he was still coming off. “Okay, maybe,” he muttered, dropping his gaze to his lap, and nervously rubbed the back of his neck.

“Something up?”

He started to wave him off, but stopped, caught off-guard by how genuinely concerned the other man looked. “Okay,” he said, clearing his throat, “so… my friend has a problem and I’m just worried about him.”

“What kind of problem?”

“Y’know, uh, basic stuff. He likes someone, doesn’t know if he likes him back.”

Keith nodded, and Lance couldn’t help but feel like he was brushing it off. It was probably nothing to Keith. He was a suave, cool--okay, he was pretty lame but he _seemed_ cool and suave--hot guy hooking up with people from London and probably Paris and Milan, why would he care about silly things like crushes?

“He should tell him.”

What?

“What?”

“Yeah,” he shrugged, cocking his head slightly. “If he likes the guy, he should just tell him. What’s the worst thing that could happen? If they’re both adults they should realize they can still be friends even if they don’t feel the same.”

Lance gaped at him a moment, brows furrowed and an almost appalled look on his face. He couldn’t just _tell_ him, that was crazy talk. “Is that what you would do?”

“Oh of course not.”

“Keith!”

“What?!” He grinned, his cheeks pink. “I am man enough to know what someone should do in that kind of situation, and also man enough to realize I could never do the same.”

Lance narrowed his eyes, and mirrored Keith’s posture, crossing his arms on the table and leaning in. “Keith, buddy, my man, I’m gonna level with you: that is one of the dumbest things I’ve ever heard.”

“So then do you not hear yourself talk or...?”

“Okay, first of all, rude. Second, we’re talking about _you_ being stupid right now so shut up. You’re telling me that you would tell someone to confess their feelings, but then you wouldn’t do the same thing?”

“I’ll stick to pining, thank you very much. Easier that way.”

“So you wouldn’t want to go out and take the chance that they like you back?”

“I didn’t say that,” Keith pointed out, leaning in closer. “With my job things get… complicated. Even if I liked someone and I wanted to be with them, I doubt my manager would let me. It’s... not really my choice.”

“That’s… so lonely.” Lance frowned, his brows furrowed, and he realized then just how close they were. He could see the flecks of light blue in his otherwise dark eyes, his chapped lips--nope, nope, dangerous territory. He sat up straight, putting some distance between them, and dropped his gaze to the red vinyl-topped table. “Sorry, uh. You’re… you’re really okay with that?”

Keith sighed and leaned back in his seat, setting his hands flat on the table. “Sometimes sacrifices have to be made, y’know? It’s… I mean, it’s not preferable, but I’ll live.” When he met his gaze Keith frowned, and quickly looked down at the menu instead. “I’ll live.”

When the waitress came back around Lance ordered the first thing he saw, and Keith appeared to do the same. Lance quietly sipped at his water, every now and then chancing a glance at the other man. Keith looked flushed, his cheeks pink, and he had a faraway look in his eyes. He was beautiful, he always was, but he didn’t look particularly happy. He looked like he did when he first saw him that morning.

He was fucking this all up. The only reason they were together that day was to get his mind off things and make him feel better, and it looked like he was doing the opposite.

“Hey,” he said, voice low, and lightly nudged at Keith’s leg with his foot. “You’re right, y’know. Gotta have your priorities and all that. There’s always time for dating and finding a partner and all that.”

Keith gave a small, barely there half-smile, and exhaled out of his nose. “Yeah… yeah, always… always time,” he said, cheeks flushed, and looked away from Lance again.

The waitress came back with their pizzas, and Lance eyed his skeptically. What did he order…? He glanced at Keith’s then, and- wait.

“Wait, aren’t you lactose intolerant?”

Keith looked up from his multi-cheese monstrosity, a completely stoic look on his face. “Maybe.”

“Then...shouldn’t you maybe not eat that?”

“I have my methods.”

“Oh, like those pills or whatever?”

He picked up a slice, and without breaking eye contact took an obscenely large bite. He chewed slowly, still never looking away, and swallowed. “I fear nothing.”

Lance stared quietly at first, then snorted a laugh, his composure crumbling. “Oh my god, are you serious?” He laughed, dropping his face into his hand. “Keith, that can’t be good for you!”

Keith grinned, his eyes bright for the first time since they got there, and it brought a matching smile to Lance’s face. “Don’t tell me how to live!”

“I’m just saying,” he practically wheezed, burying his face in both hands, and shook his head. “Oh my god, you’re so dumb. How are you a person? Seriously, Keith, I say this because I care, you’re gonna get yourself killed someday. You’re like that dude from the memes that’s allergic to peanuts and still says ‘fuck it’ and eats a peanut butter cup.”

“Excuse you, I’m not Shiro.”

“ _What?!”_

 

* * *

 

After paying for their lunch Keith followed Lance out of the restaurant. Despite his better judgement he agreed to continue their… outing. Lance hailed them a cab, all the while rambling about the stupid things he and his siblings got up to growing up. It seemed that learning he and Shiro were normal brothers that weren’t, in Lance’s words, “perfect rays of sunshine” released the floodgates, and the two couldn’t seem to stop exchanging stories.

Keith told him about having to stab Shiro with his EpiPen after the “Reeses Incident,” and Lance told him how he once lost a bet with his brother and had to shave an arrow into his head like Aang from the Avatar series. Keith speculated that all guys were just dumb growing up, and Lance shot back with a melee of stories of his sisters.

“Okay but seriously, you can still see where we had to cover up the hole in mom’s front door from Carmen sliding down the stairs and crashing into it!” He barked a laugh, throwing his head back against the headrest of the backseat. “Mama was so mad she still brings it up sometimes even though Carm moved out and got married like… three years ago.”

Keith snorted a laugh and shook his head, watching the man beside him. There was a softness to his face when he talked about his family, even when he was telling the more ridiculous stories and calling his siblings stupid there was an undeniable fondness to his tone.

“Dad would do that too,” he said, his own smile still in place. “When my mom and I moved in with them one of the first stories he told me to be careful about the first step to the apartment since Shiro fell and cut open his knee twice in the same week like… four years before.”

“Parents live for holding onto embarrassing stories I swear!” Lance pointed out, draping his arm over the back of the seats and grazing Keith’s shoulder. “When I told my mom about getting this job with Allura she _immediately_ dug out these pictures from when I was in kindergarten and I got into her makeup. Carmen all but demanded I let her put them online, do you know how much I had to bribe her not to?”

“You’ve been doing makeup since you were young then, huh?” He teased, leaning into his arm, and crossed his ankle over his knee so his knee was grazing Lance’s. “Must have meant a lot to you to get this.”

Lance snorted a laugh, and more securely wrapped his arm around his shoulders. “Sure, I guess you could say that. I mean, if you count scribbling lipstick all over my little sister’s face, then yeah. I didn’t do any _quality_ makeup until like… middle school. And that’s just because Carmen wanted someone to practice on and I would only let her if I got to try too.” He glanced down at him, that same fond look in his eyes now directed at him, and Keith felt his cheeks flush. “What about you?”

“Wh-what about me?”

“You always want to pose for a camera?”

Keith shook his head, finally able to tear his gaze from him. “No, not really. I always got uncomfortable when my mom wanted to take pictures. But with Shiro around he would do something stupid and pose all weird so I would laugh and copy him.”

Lance nodded, and he laughed, probably picturing the stupid poses the brothers would do. “So hear me out: if you show me a picture of you and Shiro looking all dramatic, I’ll show you six-year-old Lance with a failed smokey eye.”

Keith sat up straight, immediately taking his phone from his pocket with a grin. “Oh, I have to see that,” he muttered, going straight to his brother’s facebook. He preferred this, the easy conversation and laughter between them instead of the awkward silences. He liked being with him... even though he knew it couldn’t last. But he could enjoy it in the meantime, couldn’t he? He could be a little selfish for once…

“Okay, I have mine if you have yours,” Lance grinned, holding his phone to his chest.

Keith bit his lip in concentration, scrolling through the private childhood album he had up before he found it. The one picture he could never convince Shiro to delete. It was from the single, big vacation his family was able to go on to Disney. Shiro was ten and Keith was five, the two brothers standing in front of the large castle in mirrored poses. Shiro had his hip exaggeratingly popped, one hand on it and the other in a fist under his chin, blowing the camera a kiss. Keith was doing the same, his chubby cheeks better suited to the overdone kissy face, and his Mickey Mouse ears sitting crooked on his head.

“Okay, count of three,” Keith said, waiting for Lance to agree and give the countdown before showing him the picture.

Lance immediately burst out laughing, snatching his phone from his hand, and Keith quickly took his before he lost his chance. He looked at the picture on Lance’s phone far more fondly, his eyes bright and cheeks flushed.

Lance was giving the camera a big, toothy grin, his two front teeth missing, and lipstick on a couple others. There was a heavy blush on his cheeks, his eyelids covered in a bright blue with a smattering of purple and black, crooked eyeliner barely touching the edge of his lid. An arm from the side was in frame, the small, brown hand making bunny ears behind his head.

“Okay that’s not fair, you look cute,” Keith grinned, a snort of a laugh escaping him.

“You look like such a sassy little child!” Lance wheezed, slapping his hand against his knee. “Look! Look at you! Oh my god you even had the stupid mullet! This is the best day of my life!”

Keith rolled his eyes, and jabbed him with his elbow, trying to seem irritated though he was still smiling. “Yeah yeah, okay, it’s hysterical, I get it.”

Lance finally handed his phone back, and clapped his hand down over Keith’s knee. “What will it take to get you to send me that picture?”

He scoffed, and pushed open the taxi door when he noticed they were in front of his apartment building. “Not on your life.”

The other man followed him out of the cab, insisting on walking him to his door while simultaneously trying to make a case as to why he _definitely_ needed that picture to go on living. Keith just shook his head, grinning as they made their way through the lobby.

Keith stopped just outside of his apartment door, an uncomfortable feeling of complete dread settling into his stomach. He couldn’t drag this out any longer. He knew the consequences of letting their friendship go on and… possibly evolve, and he wouldn’t do that to Lance. He _couldn’t_ do that to Lance. Still, this wouldn’t be easy. Already he could feel the words he knew he would have to say burning like acid on his tongue, and when he looked up at Lance he felt his heart squeeze in his chest.

“Hey, uh, I have to tell you something.”

He frowned, mouth hanging open, and quickly closed it before nodding. “O-okay. Um. I-I do too, but you go first, Lance.”

Lance nodded, and took a deep breath, dropping his head back to stare up at the ceiling. He looked nervous, and Keith felt that same sense of anxiety twisting inside him. Nothing could be worse than what Keith was going to have to say anyway, what did he have to be nervous about?

“So. Um. Yeah. You said adults can still be friends, so I thought I would just… throw this out there. I… fuck, okay. Um. I like you, Keith. I have for a while, and yeah at first it was just because I thought you were really hot, but now it’s… well I know how much of a dork you are and I _still_ like you. And I know you said things would be too complicated, so if you don’t want to do anything about this then we can just pretend I didn’t say anything, but… yeah.”

Oh. Oh no. Definitely worse than what Keith was going to have to say.

Keith swallowed thickly, and he quickly dropped his gaze to the floor. No one had ever really… told him they liked him. Not like that. And he always thought if someone did he would be able to brush them off without a second thought. Except… he felt the same. He wanted to be with him. Even if it cost him his Galra contract, he still wanted to be with him. But he couldn’t do that to Lance, not without him knowing the consequences. It would be easier to just…

“We can’t see each other anymore.” His voice came out far stronger than he thought possible, and in any other circumstance Keith would be patting himself on the back. He chanced a glance at Lance, and immediately regretted it when he saw the confusion on his face. “We--we never should have treated this like we were anything more than just… colleagues. That’s all we are, and it’s all we can ever be.”

The two stood in silence, and Keith felt himself losing his nerve. He couldn’t do this, couldn’t keep this up when all he wanted to do was kiss Lance until he stopped looking so… so _heartbroken._

“I’m sorry,” he said, quickly taking his keys out of his pocket to unlock his door and dip into his apartment. He shut the door behind him, and leaned against it, sliding down it until he was sitting. Keith listened quietly until he heard Lance’s retreading footsteps, and only then did he let out the broken sob he’d been holding.

It wasn’t fair.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I would like to formally apologize to my boys, I swear I love you  
> ...might be a little salty towards Keith but that's just because I'm almost done with my cosplay for him and he's sO FUCKING EXTRA  
> anyway  
> next chapter will be almost all angst, prepare yourselves because Hunk and Shiro gonna have to dish out some hard truths  
> my tumblr is [imbadatnamesbutihaveanicebutt](http://imbadatnamesbutihaveanicebutt.tumblr.com/) if ya'll want to join the dumpster fire


	7. Believe

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance and Keith are both moping, and Allura thinks she knows how to fix it. Or at least start to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yes hello I am a merciful fic writer...and my friend threatened me lmao but I had this chapter written and I live for the reactions to this fic so to make up for disappearing for a month here's chapter 7~!

If there was one thing Lance was good at, it was avoiding his feelings. Well, the more negative ones anyway. He couldn’t seem to keep his big mouth shut otherwise… So instead of dwelling on the fact that Keith rejected him--and rejected him _hard_ , like seriously, they couldn’t even be friends?--he was playing Overwatch. Obsessively.

Should he be dealing with his feelings? Probably. Should he at the very least be doing something productive to keep himself distracted? _Definitely._ But shooting people in a fictional world seemed like a much better option.

“It’s high noon,” he muttered in time with his character, eyes glued to the screen in front of him. He was set up in front of his and Hunk’s flatscreen, a blanket wrapped securely around his shoulders and an obscene amount of doritos and the ungodly creation that was mountain dew energy drinks surrounding him. He was in his element, and had been for… well he actually didn’t know how long anymore.

He had gotten home after spending the day with Keith around five and immediately stationed himself in front of the television. Hunk had made him eat dinner and… yep, he made him eat breakfast too. Had he slept? Was that a thing that had happened? Lance turned his head towards the windows, ignoring the sound of his character dying in favor of looking at the night sky.

“Hey buddy, how you doin’?” Hunk asked, his voice soft, comforting. He took a seat on the floor beside Lance, and handed him a bowl of soup.

Oh Hunk. Oh sweet, naive, perfect Hunk. He was a perfect person and therefor had never had his heart broken before, of course he would just think Lance was sick. The man was too good for this world.

“‘M fine,” Lance muttered, trading his friend the remote for the food. Now that he had actual food in front of him, the shit he’d been eating on and off the past day had caught up with him. He held the bowl up to his face and went straight to slurping it, overshadowing the sound of his friend switching characters for the next match. After setting the soup on the floor in front of him he belched, his nose wrinkling in disgust at himself, and he glanced up at the screen to take his mind off of it. “Mercy? Really?”

Hunk shrugged, eyes glued on the screen as he sought out the teammate in critical condition. “Well, yeah, I like helping people. Respect your healer, man, you know how many times I’ve saved your ass?”

“Fair enough,” he grumbled, flopping onto his back, and pulled the blanket over his face. He sighed, long and drawn out, and crossed his arms above him. “Hunk, how much would I have to pay you to run me over in your car?”

“Not happening.”

“Okay but you know Pidge would, and wouldn’t you rather be the one to put your best friend out of his misery?”

“Are you really that sick?” He asked, glancing down at his friend with a frown. “Do you need to see a doctor?”

Lance shook his head, and rolled onto his side to bury his face in his friend’s thigh. “I’m not _sick_ , Hunk. I… I told Keith I liked him.”

“Oh?”

“And it didn’t go well.”

“Oh… I’m sorry, man. There’s other fish in the sea though,” he offered, reaching a hand down to gently smooth down the hair poking out from the top of the blanket. “I know it sucks now, but you’ll find someone, buddy.”

Lance sighed heavily, pulling the blankets down to his shoulders so he could actually look at Hunk. “You really think so?”

“Yeah, I do,” he smiled, warm and comforting. “Besides, maybe you should find someone you didn’t idolize. Same playing field and all that.”

“I didn’t-”

“ _Lance._ I know you probably don’t want to believe it--or hear it--but… well I don’t think Keith would have been good for you anyway. Every time you talked about him it was all good, Keith was this perfect person to you. But that’s not how that works, buddy. People have flaws, and that needs to be recognized if you’re ever going to be with someone.”

Lance frowned, and stared up at the game’s loading screen instead of at Hunk. He was right, but still…

“I say this because I care: if you can’t recognize a person’s flaws, I don’t think… well, I don’t think it could work out with anyone. And yeah, that sucks, but it’s the truth. No one’s perfect, and if you hold them up on a pedestal, you’re only going to be disappointed and heartbroken when that pedestal breaks.”

He fidgeted with his hands, staring down at the scar he had on his knuckle instead of responding. Not because he was pouting or he was angry at Hunk, he was just thinking, and honestly, dwelling on Keith’s flaws. Because he _did_ realize he wasn’t perfect. He was stubborn, obsessive over the weirdest things, and equally competitive. But those were just more things he _liked_ about Keith. He was a big loser, but he realized that and could make jokes about it. He was stubborn and competitive but that just drove Lance to want to do better himself. And sure, he felt like he sort of led him on and he was hurt, but he still couldn’t really bring himself to be angry at Keith.

Lance sighed again, and took the controller when Hunk handed it over. “I’m just gonna put on a movie. You wanna watch with me?” He mumbled, already exiting the game.

“Only if it’s a Disney movie about a beautiful, young voyager that sets out to save her island.”

“...So Moana?”

“Yeah,” Hunk beamed, and Lance found himself doing the same.

 

* * *

 

 **_Shiro [18:30]:_ ** _Alright Keith, I’m giving you two options. Either you come over to our place or we’re showing up. I know you’ve been moping and it’s not healthy. You need human interaction._

Keith wrinkled his nose in disdain, and couldn’t help but narrow his eyes at his phone. Why did he get stuck with the brother that always felt the need to “check in” and “take care of him” and all around stick his nose where it didn’t belong? Why couldn’t he have a normal brother that only talked to him once a month?

 **_Shiro [18:32]:_ ** _I’m serious, Keith. I know you saw my message too, so if you don’t respond we’re just going to show up with or without your permission._

 **_Keith to Allura [18:34]:_ ** _Can you maybe get my brother to chill?_

 **_Allura [18:36]:_ ** _Sorry Keith, but I have to agree with him this time._

 **_Allura [18:40]:_ ** _So! Would you like us to bring that Chinese takeout you like so much to soften the blow?_

 **_Keith [18:45]:_ ** _...Yes._

Keith sighed and tossed his phone aside before flopping down onto his sofa. He didn’t know what was so wrong with just keeping to himself for a few days, it wasn’t like he was dying. He was just… going off the grid for a bit. His manager was still pissed at him, his brother was losing his patience, and he had single-handedly ruined the one genuine friendship he’d had in years. Keith just needed a few days to fully come to terms with just how royally he had fucked everything up.

Thirty minutes later Shiro and Allura were walking through his front door, able to bypass the lock considering he, well, didn’t lock it. Shiro looked absolutely livid, and even Allura, who usually switched over to good cop when Shiro called bad cop, looked unsettled. She set the bag of takeout down on the coffee table before shooing his feet off the couch so she could sit.

He sat up with a sigh, and pointedly avoided looking at his brother when he stood in front of him, knowing without even having to look at him that he was giving him his cross-armed, “disappointed dad” glare. Instead of really acknowledging either of them he turned his attention to the food, taking the styrofoam container on top and checking it to make sure it was his before setting it in his lap. He dug around for a pair of wooden chopsticks for a moment before he found them, and immediately dug into his kung pao chicken.

“Keith,” Shiro started, his tone enough to make him cringe. “What is going on with you? Is this about those rumors still? Because you usually don’t let them get to you this badly.”

“I still don’t see the problem with coming out, honestly,” Allura admitted, gingerly setting a hand on his shoulder. “Sure you would… likely lose your contract with Galra, but wouldn’t that just open up new opportunities to you? You know, with more… queer friendly organizations? And you know you’re always welcome to work with me.”

“It’s not just that,” Keith admitted, gripping his chopsticks in his fist.

“Well then what is it?” Shiro asked, a little exasperated, then quickly seemed to lessen his tone after a pointed look from Allura. “I’m sorry, Keith, it’s just… you know if you’re ever in trouble you can come to me. I’m your big brother, it’s my duty to keep you safe and make sure you’re happy.”

“You’re not dad…”

“No… but dad isn’t around anymore, so I’m going to step up. Is that really so terrible?”

“No, I just… you’re not _obligated_ to help me, Shiro.”

“I know that, and that’s not what I’m doing. I _want_ to help you, because I care. If I didn’t love you, do you really think I would put up with your emo self?”

Keith tilted his head up to give him a petulant glare, his brows furrowed and lips pursed. “I’m not emo,” he grumbled, quickly dropping his gaze when Shiro quirked a brow at him.

“Yeah, okay.” He took a seat on the edge of his coffee table, and nudged his knee with his own. “So c’mon, what’s going on?”

Keith sighed heavily, and turned his gaze to the side only to find Allura’s encouraging smile there. “So Lance told me he likes me. And I… I like Lance… a _lot._ I want him to be my boyfriend.”

“Why Keith, that’s wonderful!” Allura clapped her hands together, her eyes bright.

“No, it’s… really not. Because instead of _telling him_ I liked him, I told him we can’t see each other anymore.”

“Keith, if this is because of your contract-”

“It’s more than that now. Zak, he… he found out I was talking to him and spending time with him, and he told me not only would _I_ get fired, but he would ruin any chance Lance had in the industry. And I-I couldn’t do that to him, Allura. I couldn’t destroy everything he’s worked so hard to get so quickly after he was really starting to go places.”

Allura frowned, her brows pulled together, and set a comforting hand on his knee. “He would always have a place with Altea. I don’t care what those Galra filth do, his hard work would not be done in vain.”

“But what if one day he wants to go somewhere else? Not that Altea isn’t amazing, but there’s so much out there in the world Allura.”

“Then he will just have to build his own reputation, combat the allegations on his character and show he’s so much better than they are and he is more than deserving of any opportunity that may be offered to him.”

That… all sounded right, but he couldn’t subject Lance to that if he didn’t want it. His career must be important to him, and making him choose between that and a crush was unthinkable. At least it was to Keith.

Shiro cleared his throat, and Keith begrudgingly looked at his brother. “When Lance… said what he did, did you tell him the situation?” His brother dropping his gaze was enough to answer his question. “ _Keith._ You didn’t even give the boy a chance! Maybe he would accept the consequences and you two could work through it _together!”_

Or… he could suffer in silence and let Lance move on.

“Yeah, I guess,” he grumbled, leaning back against his couch, and turned his attention back to his food.

They all dropped it at first, opting to instead follow Keith’s lead and start eating. But Allura couldn’t leave well enough alone for long, and soon she was setting her fork down again.

“Alright, so I scheduled for Lance to come to the studio tomorrow morning for a shoot, why don’t you join us?”

Keith wrinkled his nose, his top lip tugging up into a scowl, and shook his head. It had only been what, six days since the whole rejection thing, it would probably be better to just leave that whole situation alone. After all, he doubted Lance wanted to see him, especially if he was supposed to be focusing on work. And it would probably be safer for him too.

“Just… think it over, alright?”

 

* * *

 

Lance almost didn’t want to show up. Allura had said it would just be a shoot with the two of them, possibly a video recording testing of new products, but just the possibility of seeing Keith… well it was the last thing he wanted to deal with. But he liked Allura, and more importantly, he liked his new profession. He had worked hard for this opportunity, and he wasn’t about to let some crush set him back.

He made sure he was in top condition the morning of the shoot, and despite how he’d felt all week he was actually starting to perk up. He happily greeted Coran when he passed him in the lobby, and pressed the button to the elevator then took it straight to the fifth floor.

“Hey Allura!” He called when he didn’t see her at first.

She poked her head out from behind a folding screen, a bright smile on her face. “Ah, Lance! So sorry, give me just--sorry, just one more moment here, there was a sight change in plans!” She disappeared again, and Lance heard a rustling of fabric.

“Yeah, okay, no worries.” He stepped further into the studio, and set his messenger bag down on a counter, before pulling out his phone. He had expressed his concerns about seeing Keith again to his friends and Pidge had responded with some supposedly helpful advice: “he’s dead to you. Do not engage.”

Easy enough, right?

“Alright, sorry again, had to do a quick costume change,” she explained, finally joining Lance by the illuminated mirrors. She was dressed in a pastel pink croptop with a heart cutout just above her cleavage with white, high waisted, denim shorts, her hair tied up in a bun with a few flowers delicately placed around it. She frankly looked even more like a goddess, which really couldn’t be fair, but Lance digressed.

“Oh, so I’m guessing we won’t be doing anything very dramatic today?”

“No, the spring line is in and our customer polls wanted some pastel palettes. Very original, I know, but I _did_ come up with some rather gorgeous formulas. _And_ more highlighters, so prepare to be seen from space.”

“I’m _always_ ready for that.”

After changing into the white sweater and light pink jeans Allura provided he took a seat at the vanity and gaped at the arrangement provided. There were two new palettes, one full of at least a dozen different, floral inspired colors, and a highlighting palette with a ethereal feel to it. Beside those were several new shades of lipsticks, some more natural were others tiptoed over to the bold side with mint and periwinkle.

“Alright, so I’m planning on keeping a more simple eye look if you want to get creative with yours,” Allura offered, taking a seat and turning on one of the smaller mirrors to extend it closer. “So we’ll do our looks, take the photos, then do a video taking swatches of the new shades. Sound alright?”

“More than alright,” Lance breathed, mystified by the possibilities.

In the end, Lance had really gone all out. He did his base makeup with a light, subtle contouring and highlighted his cheekbones in a near silver color. His eyes went from pink at the inner corners and faded to lavender at the outer corners, periwinkle blue blended from his creases up towards his brows and lining his lower lids. He did a thinner line of black liner than usual, just barely winging it, and put on a more princess-esque pair of lashes. There were three small, metallic silver stars glued with spirit gum below each eye, really embracing the ethereal feeling of the new products. His lips were done naturally, in a soft, brown nude, and he had managed to find the leftover flowers from Allura’s hair to make a small crown of his own.

Allura kept true to her word and did her eyes simply, a soft pink on her lids and a more warm, rose color blending towards her brows with a more dramatic cat eye liner and similarly feminine lashes. Her cheeks were done in a warm rose to match her eyes, her highlight focusing more on the tip of her nose and cupids bow. Her lips were far more intricate, a pleasant ombre that went from her natural lip color to lavender at the top of her upper lip and bottom lip. On top of the heaviest concentration of color was a coating of fine, purple glitter.

The two got the photos out of the way, mostly closeups of their looks with a few of them simply posed standing together, looking like a couple of pastel gods that emitted an air of “better than you” with some candids of them grinning and laughing. Allura understood that the fashion norm was to look stoic and unamused, but she highly preferred the candid ones where her models actually looked happy together.

“Alright!” She clapped her hands together, and gave Lance a grin. “Quick question, if you wouldn’t mind.”

“Shoot,” he said, his smile matching hers in radiance.

“You enjoy working here at Altea don’t you?”

“Of course I do?”

“Is this a company you would be willing to grow with?”

“Yes?”

“And if something were to happen to jeopardize your chances with other companies, would that upset you?”

Lance felt his smile fade, his brows furrowed in confusion. “Um, I’m not sure… Allura, I don’t really think I need chances with other companies? I would be happy to just… stay with Altea. The only opportunity I would pursue would be to do makeup for movies.”

“Alright, marvelous! Now that that’s out of the way, we’ll do touch-ups, then set to recording, yes? Oh! And we will have another model coming in so the viewers will see what the new products look like on a lighter skintone than ours.”

“Okay,” Lance nodded, worries long forgotten and a bright grin on his face. He was fixing up his contour when he heard the last voice he wanted to hear in his vicinity.

“Okay Keith, just have a seat and I’ll get you fixed up, yes?”

“Please nothing too crazy, I don’t want to sit in this chair for hours.”

“Fair enough,” Allura laughed, light and airy, completely unaware of Lance’s growing inner turmoil.

Before he could even process what was happening or argue against it he was seated on one side of Allura with Keith on the other. Like she promised his makeup was done simply, a mint shadow on his lid blended with a soft pink and lavender under his bottom lashes, a cat eye done to match Allura’s and a soft, rosy color on his lips. He looked absolutely beautiful and it just wasn’t fair.

“We all in frame, Shiro?” Allura asked, tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear. A braided lock came loose from her bun and she sighed, long and drawn out as she dropped her head back. “Sorry, one moment, let me fix this,” she said, excusing herself from the boys with Shiro in tow.

Lance wrinkled his nose, pointedly keeping his gaze forward instead of so much as glancing Keith’s direction. Just pretend he wasn’t there, simple enough, wasn’t it?

“Hey, um… Lance?” Keith asked, his voice soft.

Ignore him, he’s not there.

“Lance?”

Nope, not dealing with this.

“Okay. So. You’re ignoring me, I can understand that, I just… I’m really sorry. There’s… there’s more to the situation than I let on and I should have told you instead of just… cutting you off.”

His resolve crumbled. Lance looked at him, unable to keep the glare off his face. “Yeah, yeah you really should have. But does it really even matter? Would knowing the situation really change anything?”

Keith looked defensive, his jaw tight and brows furrowed. “Yeah… it would. Because I like you too you dick.”

“That’s not funny, Keith.”

“I’m not kidding, _Lance_. Now are you going to hear me out, or not?”

Lance frowned, his defenses still up, and crossed his arms over his chest. Why should he listen to him? Sure, hearing him say he liked him was… well honestly it caught him off-guard but it _still_ made his heart flutter. He was pissed at himself for still getting affected by it, but he could admit, it _did_ make him feel lighter.

“Fine. Talk.”

Keith sighed, seemingly relieved, and turned to face him more head-on. “My contract… okay, so the company I’m with is very… conservative. You know they don’t want me to be out or seen with another man, so when they found out I went out with you they… they threatened to make it so you would never get any other work in the industry. And I- I didn’t want to do that to you, Lance. Not when you were so happy, so I thought if I just… turned you down there wouldn’t be a problem.”

“So what now? You realized that there _was_ a problem, and that it really fucking sucked to be rejected like that? To be _humiliated_ like that? I don’t think you realize how much that sucked, dude. I really like you, so hearing that-”

“You still like me?”

“You’re seriously interrupting me right now?” Lance shot back, cocking his head at the other man. Keith looked almost sheepish as he dropped his gaze to his lap. “Yeah. So. I do. How do I know that you really do want to make this better?”

Allura came back then, apologizing as she crossed over the set-up to take her seat between them. “Alright boys, put on your best happy faces, and let’s do this!”

They both nodded, putting their professionalism first, but Keith quickly whipped out his phone.

“I will forgive that if your phone is back in your pocket in 3...2…”

Before she could reach one it was practically tossed aside, and Keith had his hands in his lap, an almost smug smile on his face. Lance was about to question him when he felt his own phone vibrate with a text. He narrowed his eyes at the other man, and without looking away pulled his cell out to examine the text.

 **_Keith [12:28]:_ ** _(Image attached)_

_No way…_

The Disney picture stared back at him. And as Lance tucked his phone under his thigh to avoid Allura’s wrath, he didn’t have to force a smile on his face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :D things are getting better!  
> oR ARE THEY  
> DUN DUN DUN  
> *whispers* this is only the beginning  
> my tumblr is [imbadatnamesbutihaveanicebutt](http://imbadatnamesbutihaveanicebutt.tumblr.com/) if ya'll want to join the dumpster fire or yell at me to update again  
> I'm also thinking of making like...mood boards for the chapters with the makeup looks the ones described are inspired by, Keith's nerd shirts, and just general aesthetics, what do you guys think?


	8. Stare into the Void

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> If Lance was one thing, he was forgiving. Too forgiving, in Keith’s opinion, but he wasn’t going to point that out when it saved his ass. But he was determined to make it up to him. He was going to pull out all the stops, sweep Lance off his feet, and make up for his mistakes tenfold.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HOLY SHIT WHAT THERE'S A NEW CHAPTER UNHEARD OF   
> all sarcasm aside I am SO SORRY it took literally 3 months to update this life got CRAZY and I had to get a new job and everything's finally calming down  
> which means hopefully semi-regular updates again   
> because I miss writing this a lot and I hate going on hiatus  
> with that all out of the way have Keith and Lance both being anxious and Hunk being salty

Everything in Keith’s brain was screaming “ _this is a mistake_.” It was stupid to get attached to Lance, to not only encourage his feelings but return them, but he just couldn’t stop himself. Lance was… amazing in so many ways, too many for him to even comprehend, and he had this sort of magnetic pull on Keith that kept him coming back around again and again. And yeah, he still thought it was stupid to put both of their long-term careers at stake, but he really couldn’t bring himself to care. He was already in too deep.

That’s why he had to fix things. He knew he had hurt Lance, and he didn’t think it was something he could ever forgive himself for; no matter how many times the other man assured him it was okay. Because if Lance was one thing, he was forgiving. Too forgiving, in Keith’s opinion, but he wasn’t going to point that out when it saved his ass.

But he was still determined. He was going to pull out all the stops, sweep Lance off his feet, and make up for his mistakes tenfold. The only problem with his plan was that it was… easier said than done.

The stupid, embarrassing childhood picture seemed to be a good start. Keith refused to let Lance post it anywhere, but he conceded when asked if he could just make it his phone background. In retrospect, he definitely should have realized Lance was just joking, but after laughing at him for a solid minute Keith noticed him actually making it his home screen.

_‘Just so I can have a good laugh every time I unlock my phone.’_

Sure. Keith _totally_ believed that one.

It had been a good start, but he wanted to do _more..._ he was just a little lost on what that actually meant. And what’s the best course of action when having a crisis? Look up the answers on the internet.

Which is what brought him to Lance’s apartment. Uninvited. With a small bouquet of flowers in his hands.

Keith hated the internet.

After at least a minute of inner turmoil and panic, he pushed away the urge to turn on his heel and retreat immediately, and knocked three times on the door in front of him. He was almost relieved when it wasn’t Lance that answered. Almost. Because standing in front of him was a rather large, tree of a man that had to be at least half a foot taller than him and had enough strength in his arms that he looked like he could throw Keith if he wanted.

“Uh… you’re that ‘Keith K’ guy, right?” He asked, snapping Keith out of his internal panic.

“Y-yeah, um. Sorry, did I… get the wrong apartment? I-I’m looking for Lance?”

His eyes widened just a fraction before narrowing, his brows furrowed in a dirty glare that looked a little wrong on this guy’s face. “Why?”

Keith opened and closed his mouth a few times, mentally grasping for something, _anything_ to say that would get this guy to stop glaring at him. At a complete loss for words, he held the flowers up in front of his face, letting them cover both his nose and mouth.

He looked him up and down, notably sizing him up as if to remind Keith that he could crush him if he wanted, before simply nodding with a gruff “fine.” He turned his head to look over his shoulder into his apartment, and called Lance’s name. Keith could hear an almost frantic “kinda busy here!” from inside and frowned, his brows furrowed in hopefully unwarranted concern. The man still blocking the doorway rolled his eyes, then stepped aside, ushering Keith in without even giving him a second glance.

“What’s up, dude?” Lance asked, stationed on top of a wooden coffee table, game controller held tight in his hands as he frantically mashed the buttons.

Keith rolled his eyes though there was a fondness to it, and shifted his weight to one foot to cock his hip to the side. “And you call _me_ a nerd,” he pointed out, the corner of his lips curling up in a smirk.

Lance froze, his shoulders tensing, then slowly turned his head to look at Keith, not even noticing the pained groan of his character as he died. He stared at him like he had three heads, and suddenly Keith was regretting his decision all over again.

“Y-your team’s losing,” he said, pointing at the screen and giving it his full attention instead of looking at Lance.

_Retreat, retreat, bad idea, internet lied-_

“R-right, um, Hunk? Can you sub in?” He asked, passing the controller off to his roommate without really looking at him. He took Keith’s arm and pulled him away from the living room, down a short hallway, and into what Keith could only assume was his bedroom.

There were posters and pictures all over the walls, ranging from wholesome family photos to horror movie posters to magazine cutouts of makeup advertisements. His bed was made but there was clothing strewn across the room, a pile of it sitting in the desk chair paired with what looked like a rather neglected desk. Keith stared at it all like it was the most interesting thing in the world, turning his attention to the clear opposite side of the room every time he felt Lance looking at him.

“So,” the other man coughed, making Keith cringe, “what… what are you doing here? You know where I live?”

…Shit.

Shit shit shit he didn’t even think about how creepy it was to have gotten his address from Allura.

“Y-yeah, you gave it to me- your address, that is, a couple weeks ago when we were- because uh- yeah. So. I… got you these,” he said, presenting the flowers to him instead of embarrassing himself further.

Lance seemed to accept the change of subject without question, his gaze going straight to the bouquet and his cheeks flushing bright red. “ _Oh._ Wow. U-um,” he stuttered, one hand going over his mouth. He must have seen something on Keith’s face he himself didn’t recognize he was doing, because he immediately straightened up, his eyes wide and hands held out. “W-wait no it’s okay! I’m just… surprised. Good surprised! So enthusiastically, pleasantly surprised! I just didn’t think- wow thank you?”

Keith nodded stiffly, shoving his hands in his pockets the second the flowers were out of his hand. “Y-yeah, um, I thought- well they’re supposed to mean like ‘I’m sorry’ which I am, again, a-and um… infatuation… I guess.”

“Still on the apologizing kick, huh?”

“N-no- I mean, yeah, I guess, but no? Like some of the flowers mean that but overall it’s like- wow hey I like your dumb face.”

Lance snorted a laugh, but he wasn’t looking at Keith, oh no, he was staring at those flowers like they held the secrets of the universe. “You tryin’ to seduce me, Kogane? ‘Cause the gesture is A+, but you might wanna work on the whole talking part of it. I _am_ glad you like my dumb face though.” He finally looked at him again, and Keith felt his stomach clench uncomfortably at the look in his eyes.  There was a warmth Lance seemed to hold in his gaze, like the feeling of the sun shining on your face, and it was only emphasized by the wide grin on his face causing his eyes to crinkle in the corners.

“S-sorry, um, it’s not dumb- your face, I mean. But you already know you’re stupidly beautiful, so I figured I have to keep your ego from getting too big,” he joked, shoving at his shoulder.

Lance laughed full on then, eyes closed and head thrown back. “Oh _please._ I think you’re just incapable of saying too many nice things in a day. Like if you don’t meet your edgy, rude ass quota of the day you’ll cease to exist.”

“Hey!”

“Tell me I’m wrong!” Lance challenged, suddenly standing much closer, with a smaller grin as he stared down at Keith.

Keith pursed his lips, his brows furrowed, and crossed his arms over his chest. “I take it back, your face _is_ dumb. Who even likes freckles and dimples,” he scoffed, cheeks flushed as Lance slid his fingers through his beltloops to pull him closer.

“I think you do,” he said, leaning down to press a kiss to the side of his head.

And that- that was what he couldn’t handle. It had become pretty regular, the small signs of affection from Lance since they made up, and he didn’t think he could ever get used to it. Any time he held his hand or wrapped his arm around his waist or kissed his face Keith was sure he had to have died and gone to another dimension because _how_ could anything so simple feel so… so nice.

Okay, nice was a gross understatement, but he still hadn’t covered from the kiss. And now Lance was teasingly peppering his face with kisses giving him absolutely _no_ recovery time.

Unfair.

* * *

 

“So did you come here just to give me flowers and insult my face, or did you want to hang out? It’s my turn to cook dinner, and I’m sure Hunk wouldn’t mind if you chilled here for a bit. Then you guys could talk or whatever and my best friend could get to know my boy-“ he let that word drag out for a moment, his eyes widening yet staring at nothing. “ _Anyway._ Stay, hang out, let me make fun of you more for being edgy.

_Really,_ Lance? You hang out with this guy two to three times a week, cuddle him and kiss his face all the time, he brings you flowers and you think he’s your _boyfriend?_

_Get your shit together, McClain!_

“ _Anyway,_ ” he continued, hoping Keith couldn’t notice the heat flooding his cheeks. Seriously, was it even healthy to have blood rush to your face so many times in a day? “Stay, hang out, let me make fun of you more for being edgy.”

Keith rolled his eyes, but he could see the hints of a smile tugging at the corners of his lips. “Depends. What are you cooking? Don’t plan on poisoning me now, do you?”

“I mean if it’d make you more comfortable you could help me cook,” he grinned, one brow raised. “But I _will_ force you to wear an apron. We honestly have more in this apartment than the entirety of the ‘Great British Bake-off.’”

“I have no idea what that is, so pass. But remember, in cases of missing people, police always question the boyfriend first.”

Lance swallowed thickly, trying to keep his face from showing any of the emotions he was feeling—surprise, confusion, the actual personified look of “what the fuck”—and just nodded before pushing Keith back towards the door of his room. “Fair enough, no poisoning tonight.”

“Uh… what?” Hunk asked, looking a little too concerned as they came back into the living room. “You leveled up, by the way. We won so I exited the game, and I have the lootbox up and ready for you.”

“Hunk, you’re an angel. I’ll open that in a sec, I’m just gonna get dinner started, so I will be leaving Keithy boy here in your very capable hands. Play nice, make merry, don’t make him fall in love with you—because we all know how impossible it is for people to _not_ fall head over heels for you—because I saw him first.”

Hunk smiled, his cheeks pink, and almost nervously rubbed the back of his head. “Yeah, yeah, sure thing, Lance. You need any help though? I _really_ don’t want a repeat of last time.”

“Last time?” Keith echoed, one brow raised curiously.

“Okay, first of all, I thought we both agreed never to speak of that again. Second, it got you that cute firefighter’s number didn’t it?”

His friend shrugged, mumbling “I guess” in an attempt to be nonchalant despite the blush that had spread to the tops of his ears. Talking about Shay always had that effect on him, and it was quite possibly the cutest, most pure thing Lance had ever seen. And his family owned far more than their fair share of baby animals during his childhood. Have you ever seen a duckling fall asleep on a cat? Cutest shit in this world—until Hunk talking about Shay became a thing.

“I’m still expecting a story here.”

“Yeah, not happening,” Lance said, unable to keep the smile off his face when he saw what could only be called a pout on Keith’s lips. Okay, so maybe there was another thing cuter than just about everything he’s ever seen. “Pout all you want, Keith, I’m still not gonna tell you. You have enough embarrassing shit on me as is.”

“I’ll get it out of you sooner or later. Remember this day Lance, I _will_ learn all of your terrible, embarrassing stories.”

He just scoffed, cocky, as he turned on his heel to retreat to the kitchen. He could pretend all he wanted, but he was pretty sure he would literally rather die than have Keith hear some of his more embarrassing stories from high school. Everyone went through their own thing, their terrible, cringy phase, but his was just… Lance shuddered involuntarily, and quickly shook the thoughts away, trying to instead focus on the fact that he was cooking for Keith.

He… did not think that one through.

Not that he wasn’t confident in the kitchen—he knew enough of his mother’s recipes to get him through—but he was no Hunk. And he had no idea what kinds of fancy restaurants Keith went to, didn’t know if he was used to some high class _cuisine._ He couldn’t embarrass himself now--

“Hey Lance?” Hunk called, snapping him out of the beginnings of panic.

“Yeah?”

“Do you care if I invite Pidge?”

“Nah man, go for it!”

Insecurities over his food long gone, Lance could only grin. He opened spotify on his phone, already bouncing on his heels as he made his way to the cupboards. This was perfect! Keith was here, had given him _flowers_ , and now he was going to be meeting both of his best friends! Hunk got along with everyone so there were no worries there, and Pidge could bond over their love of aliens and cryptids. For the first time in a while it felt like things were finally looking up in his social life.

* * *

 

Hunk was not happy. Here this guy was, acting like he never hurt Lance in the first place and everything was all honky dory! Like it was _okay_ for him to be there when the only person that could possibly want him was Lance—and even then Hunk was still trying to convince him he needed to move on. The only problem was, he wasn’t exactly the best at being mean to a person. He could be standoffish and quiet sure, but that could be seen as just being shy. And he was _not_ being shy. Celebrity status be damned, he didn’t care if Keith was intergalactic royalty, he could go sit in a ditch.

Wow he was bad at smack…

But that’s where Pidge would come in.

Pidge held the fury of a thousand suns within them, and when they didn’t like someone there was no doubt in that person’s mind of their feelings. So if Pidge was there, Keith would have to get the picture.

_(Hunk 18:46)_

_You’ll never guess who’s here_

_(Pidge 18:50)_

_Obama_

_(Hunk 18:51)_

_…_

_WHAT_

_Nevermind. No. KEITH._

_(Pidge 18:54)_

_thought I’d start with the most outrageous, come at me_

_are you fucking kidding me?_

_why is Lance even still talking to him?_

_(Hunk 18:56)_

_No idea_

_But Lance is making dinner and invited him to stay WHICH HE TOTALLY IS_

_So I thought you might want to come over_

_(Pidge 18:57)_

_how mean do I get to be 1-10?_

_(Hunk 18:58)_

_I just want him out of my apartment and away from Lance_

_(Pidge 19:00)_

_omw_

“Pidge is coming!” He glanced at Keith then almost immediately turned his gaze away again, staring instead at the television again. “I’m gonna play another couple games,” he said to no one in particular.

Keith sat quietly for the most part, switching between watching the screen, scrolling through his phone, and watching Lance. There was always a smile on his face when he was doing the latter. But Hunk didn’t care about that. He still hurt his best friend, and _no one_ got away with hurting his best friend. If Keith wanted to fix things with Lance, he would have to fix things with Pidge and him too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this feels like a filler chapter and I'm so sorry   
> angst and drama coming up next though!  
> ALSO. LOOK GO CHECK OUT loonytwin ON FACEBOOK BECAUSE I'M ON MY PHONE RN AND CAN'T DO LINKS BUT THEY DID ART FOR THIS??? AND IT'S BEAUTIFUL AND I LOVE IT A LOT AND WILL POST A LINK ASAP


	9. I'm a Cryptid Few Can Observe

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pidge understood loud and clear that Lance was over it, that they had made up and everything was on its way to being back to normal. But that just wasn’t going to fly.
> 
> \------
> 
> Pidge puts Keith in his place and Keith has a meeting that pushed him one step forward and two back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let's be real no one's surprised when it takes me ten years to update anymore but I'm still gonna apologize and thank you guys for sticking with me <3 I had the first part of this written for weeks--minus a rather big step to happen--but it felt incomplete so I waited until I felt I had something worth waiting for. I also wanted to be sure I did Pidge justice so hopefully that worked out  
> Hope you guys like it!

Hell hath no fury like someone-whose-best-friend-had-his-heart-broken’s scorn.

Pidge understood loud and clear that Lance was over it, that they had made up and everything was on its way to being back to normal. But that just wasn’t going to fly. No matter how many times they gave him shit and made fun of him, Pidge really did love Lance. He was one of their best friends, and they thought he deserved someone worthy of him. Keith just didn’t seem like that someone.

Lance had told them—numerous times—about how “cool” and “fun” and “dorky” Keith is, went on and on about how he was sure they would get along great with their shared love of space and creatures, but Pidge didn’t buy it. Lance was still just seeing him through rose colored glasses, and that’s why he was willing to forget about what had happened like it was nothing. But it wasn’t nothing, he had his heart broken, and Hunk and Pidge were left trying to help him pick up the pieces and rebuild his self-esteem and emotional stability.

They may have been best friends, but that didn’t make gushy emotional shit like that any easier for Pidge.

…They actually probably didn’t help much now that they thought about it. But they were going to make up for it now! If Keith was really sorry about what happened and wanted to fix things, then Lance would have nothing to worry about; and if he was just lying to him, then good riddance.

Pidge rolled up to Lance and Hunk’s apartment just twenty minutes after texting him last, parking their moped in one of the motorcycle spaces. There was a sleek black and red bike next to them they’d never seen in the lot before, and they curiously looked it over, one brow raised. It was a sweet ride, if only a little too “trying to be edgy.” With their helmet tucked under their arm Pidge made their way up the concrete steps to the second floor, then walked into the first apartment on the right, forgoing knocking or doing little else to announce their arrival aside from a loud “sup dweebs.”

Hunk looked up from his place on the sofa with a nod, and the guy next to him jumped, obviously startled as he turned to stare wide eyed at the door. Pidge sized him up immediately, doing nothing to hide the disdain on their face as they did, and cocked their head slightly, challengingly.

So this was Keith. He was pretty, sure, but without photoshop and airbrushing he looked like any other normal dude. He had his hair tied up so Pidge couldn’t give him shit about the mullet Lance talked about, and he seemed to be dressed pretty average, fitted dark jeans and a black t-shirt with some stupid saying on it. Even after the initial shock of their entrance he looked at them like a deer in headlights.

“Keith, that’s Pidge,” Lance called, before moving to poke his head out through the kitchen doorway. “How’s it hangin’ nerd? I’m glad that you deemed us worthy of your presence, oh flaky one.”

Pidge narrowed their eyes at him, lips pursed, and held up a finger in warning. “Strike one, McClain, strike one. If you’re gonna be thanking me you best not be sarcastic. See if I bring Rover over again.”

“Who says I was being sarcastic?!”

“I know you. And I already apologized for bailing last weekend--even though it was one hundred percent Matt’s fault for not telling me mom and dad were coming over.”

“Oh-“ Keith stopped as soon as he started, cheeks pink when they looked at him. “S-sorry, uh- I just- I thought you looked familiar. You’re Matt Holt’s sibling, right?”

Pidge opened their mouth to correct him, too used to people calling them Matt’s little sister, and then closed it again when his words sank in.

Alright. So he got a point there in his favor.

“Yeah? How do you know my brother?”

“He’s friends with my brother Shiro.”

…Shit. Two points. They loved Shiro, and if this guy was his brother he couldn’t be that terrible if the stories he told them were true. And even if he was, Shiro probably would have kicked his ass by now. They didn’t care who said Shiro was too passive to be violent; they obviously never sat in his car with him during rush hour.

Pidge set their helmet on the dining room table before moving to take a seat between Hunk and Keith. They noticed the flick of Keith’s gaze giving them a quick once over, and crossed their arms over their chest as they leaned back against the cushions.

“So Keith,” they started, giving him the coldest stare they could muster, “you ever kill someone?”

“ _ Pidge!”  _ Lance yelled.

“Almost,” he answered, completely honest.

“Keith?!”

Keith shrugged, both hands fidgeting around his phone. “Someone insulted my brother’s prosthetic even after I warned them. Their own fault,” he said, matter-of-factly.

“Ever had an STD?”

“Nope.”

“Gone to jail?”

“Got arrested once in high school, but I never went to jail.”

“Done something illegal?”

“Take a moment to remember what I just said.”

“Cheated on someone?”

Keith paused then, his face visibly paling. “That-… I mean… I wasn’t officially with him, but I slept with someone else and I… yeah okay I felt like I was. But technically speaking, I guess, no? Kind of have to be in a relationship with someone to cheat on them, and I’ve never been in a relationship.”

Pidge narrowed their eyes at him, paying no mind to Lance’s dumbstruck staring from just behind the sofa. “You break a lot of hearts, or just my friend’s?”

“Pidge!” Lance yelled, mortified.

Keith swallowed thickly, tensing under three people’s gaze. Of course Lance’s friends would know what went down between them. It explained Pidge’s third degree, and Hunk’s standoffishness when he’d been told he was the warmest, most friendly guy Lance ever met. And no matter how uncomfortable he was, he couldn’t say he didn’t deserve it.

He wanted to stand up and leave, pretend this whole situation didn’t happen, but he knew if he did that Lance’s friends would hate him forever. He knew how much his friends meant to him, so if they hated Keith…

“I’m sorry, they’re just-“ Lance started, gesturing wildly with his hands like he didn’t know what else to do with them.

“N-no, it’s okay,” Keith mumbled, his voice smaller than he would have liked. “I didn’t… I didn’t mean for everything that happened to happen. I uh… I don’t think I’ve ever hurt someone else like that, because I don’t really get close to other people. Lance was- is special…”

Disregard his previous thought, he didn’t want to walk out, he wanted the ground to straight up open up and devour him because he was just painfully honest and vulnerable in a way he wasn’t used to to the guy he liked and the friends that hated him and-

“Okay, I get what you guys are doing, but seriously you need to chill,” Lance sighed, looking at his friends. After another moment of struggling to think of what to do with his hand he settled with putting it on Keith’s shoulder, squeezing it so he could hide how it was trembling.

It didn’t work.

Keith tensed, but quickly raised his own hand to cover Lance’s so he didn’t pull away. He kept his gaze on the floor, his cheeks and ears burning, and idly chewed the inside of his cheek.

“I told you we settled things, can you please drop it? Keith had his reasons, and he’s been trying to make it up to me since we talked. I appreciate what you guys are trying to do, seriously, but jesus can you not?”

Hunk looked like a child being scolded, while Pidge looked ready to snap, their jaw clenched and eyes narrowed.

“So what? We’re supposed to just forgive and forget? Would you be doing the same thing if it was one of us? Because that’s bullshit and you know it, Lance.”

“I don’t-“ Keith started, then cleared his throat. He… honestly hadn’t meant to actually say anything but they were staring at him again and geez, it felt like Pidge was trying to glare a hole through his head. “I can’t speak for Lance, but… I don’t want you guys to forget. I would do just about anything to have you forgive me, but I don’t expect you to forget. Y-you can hold me to a higher standard than anyone else he’s ever been with a-and talk shit on me to him every chance you get, just… can you give me a chance? I know my word probably doesn’t mean anything to you, but the last thing I want to do is hurt Lance again.”

“Keith…”

Pidge held his gaze, their eyes still narrowed dangerously, but finally they looked away. “You get one more chance. And that’s only because I know Shiro will kick your ass too.”

He breathed a sigh of relief and rubbed his free hand over his face, letting it move up to push his bangs out of his face for a moment.

Hunk still seemed distressed, his lips set in a deep frown and his brows furrowed as he looked back and forth between Keith and Lance. Finally his gaze settled on Pidge. “You close with brother?”

“Yeah?”

He met Keith’s eyes then, and there was a… coldness he never could have expected. “If you hurt him again, I will not hesitate to find you and destroy you.”

“Jesus Hunk, that’s unnerving,” Lance said, laughing a little nervously, and feigned a shiver running down his spine. “Now, you guys all copacetic? No more threats you wanna throw out? Keith somehow made it this far without you two freaking him out too bad, he might be invincible at this point.”

“No- nope- very vincible.”

Pidge snorted a laugh before quickly recollecting themselves. “Okay so we just pretending everything’s cool until further notice?”

“ _ Please _ ,” Lance stressed.

“Dope. Keith is that your bike outside?” They asked, staring at him with fire in their eyes. He nodded a bit stiffly, brows furrowed. “You have to give me a ride sometime! I wanted to get a bike, but my family refused.”

“What about Apollo?” Hunk asked, leaning back against the sofa with his arm draped over the cushions, his body language far more open than it was the entire time Keith was there.

“While I love him, a moped is not a motorcycle. I can’t take ‘im on the interstate anyway, only city streets.”

“I know, that’s why it’s better.”

“You don’t even ride with me anymore!”

“You tried to race a car!”

“It was a minivan and Karen had it coming!”

Keith snorted, but quickly tried to cover it as a cough, going as far as to cover his mouth with the back of his hand. It was too late though, they were looking at him again, but this time at least they looked amused.

“See, I bet Keith’s on my side. You do your fair share of street racing?”

He shook his head with a small smile on his face. “Nah, my bike is recognizable now, I can’t be drag racing or I’ll ‘disgrace the Galra name,’” he mimicked, dropping his voice low and wagging his finger in what he thought was a spot on impersonation of Zak.

“You’re famous enough for people to care about that?”

“Only my manager. I’m pretty sure if I got caught it would just add to my street cred and bad boy aesthetic.”

“Oh. My god,” Lance laughed, burying his face in his hands. “Do you realize how lame that sounds?”

Instead of answering Keith just gave him a pair of finger guns, his blank expression contrasting with the gesture and pulling another dorky laugh out of Lance. He smiled, a little too proud of himself for that one, and crossed his arms a bit more comfortably over his chest.

“Well I’m gonna go back to the kitchen, everything… should be done and not burnt. But uh… Hunk dial the pizza place just in case.”

“On it.”

The food was most definitely burnt. In his rush to play mediator and try to settle the situation, Lance left the stove on full heat and the blackened chicken was a little too true to name. So they ordered pizza, and Lance’s friends took it as their responsibility to fill Keith in on all the stupid shit he’s done. Well, Pidge did. Hunk, bless his heart, hyped Lance up. He didn’t have the heart to tell him how unnecessary it was; Keith knew how great Lance was, how open and friendly and inclusive and sweet he was. He knew how lucky he was to have a second chance, and he wasn’t going to fuck that up.

It wasn’t until ten that night that he realized how long he’d been at his apartment, and Keith flushed, pushing himself to his feet as quietly as he could to avoid disrupting the movie Pidge put on for them. Lance’s gaze followed him however, and when he saw him walking towards the door he stood up to join him. The two stepped outside the apartment together, and the taller boy leaned back against the door, the pink of his cheeks evident even on his tan cheeks.

“Hey, um… sorry… again for all of that. If I knew they were gonna do that-“

“It’s fine,” he said, waving him off as he shrugged his leather jacket on.

“Are you sure you don’t want to stay longer? If the movie was boring we can put something else on-“

“No it’s fine I just… have a meeting in the morning with Zak. Gonna try and clear everything up with him, so there won’t be any other issues with this- with us.”

Lance flushed a deeper red, and dropped his gaze to the concrete, surprisingly shy considering how much he tried to hype himself up. “ _ Oh _ . Okay. Um. Good luck with that, let me know how it goes.”

Keith nodded, nervously shifting his weight from foot to foot, and stuffed his hands in his pockets. Things felt… tense. Why did they feel so tense? Things were cleared up between them, it was all supposed to be okay now-

“Are we… are you my boyfriend?” Lance asked, voice small as he dared a glance at him.

…They never talked about that.

_ Oh my god they never talked about that. _

_ Oh god this is so awkward I just assumed that’s what was happening and we didn’t even talk about it and what if Lance didn’t want things all serious and- _

“N-no, I mean, y-yeah I  _ thought  _ that’s what we were doing but if you don’t want to I totally get that and I can cancel the meeting-“

“Keith.”

“-it’s no big deal, you probably need more time too, I was just jumping into things without checking with you-

“ _ Keith.” _

“-I just thought with all the hand holding and kissy face emojis that-“

“ _ Keith! _ ” Lance grabbed his face in his hands, gentle but firm as he squeezed his cheeks together to get him to stop talking. When Keith did he stared up at him, and swallowed thickly, his cheeks heating up under his hands. “Shut up.”

Then he was kissing him. It was quick and chaste, but warm and smelled like oregano. Keith swallowed again, staring at Lance when he pulled back for just a moment before he stood up on his tiptoes to kiss him again. He pulled his hands out of his pockets and set them on Lance’s waist, gripping the sides of his shirt to hide the way his hands shook, and kissed him with everything he had in him. It was burning hot and kinda sloppy and  _ definitely  _ tasted like pizza, but it was… perfect.

He pulled away finally, his lips red, and stared at Lance with wide eyes.

“I’m gonna talk to Zak.”

“Y-yeah you do that,” Lance started, sliding his hands from Keith’s hair—when did they get in his hair? “Then we should uh- do that again. Like. A lot.”

“Y-yeah. Yeah we should.”

* * *

 

Keith was never one for formal meetings; if it could be summarized in an email or even a phone call, there was no point in him driving all the way to headquarters and spending ten minutes in the elevator avoiding small talk with strangers just to sit in a room for five minutes with someone talking  _ at _ him. He’s dealt with it too many times as is. But this time his manager was insisting they had to speak in person, and seeing as he was already walking on thin ice, he decided to suck it up and just do it.

So there he was, staring pointedly at his phone with someone else’s gaze on him, waiting for the elevator to reach the eighteenth floor. He wanted to maintain his “don’t fuck with me” face, but found it crumbling at a stupid text Lance sent him. The corner of his lips curled up into a small smile, his eyes softening, and he shook his head. According to Lance, Keith taking initiative in the relationship wasn’t going to fly, and he had to make up for lost time. That apparently meant cheesy pickup lines and too many emojis.

The ding of the elevator was barely enough to snap him out of his thought process, his feet carrying him on autopilot as he typed up his reply. Just as he pocketed his phone he had reached his office, the imposing, dark wooden doors enough to make him wrinkle his nose in disdain. He pushed the door open, and started to walk into the office, preparing his generic excuses and half-assed lies in case he was going to get on him about Lance again. What—or  _ who  _ he supposed—he saw stopped him in his tracks. Why was Nyma here? If this was just a stupid business transaction he  _ definitely  _ didn’t have to come in.

“What’s she doing here?” He asked, brows furrowed as he moved to take the seat next to her. The back of the chair hit his mid-back but no taller, while Zak’s rose at least a foot above his head. Another power trip he supposed.

“Don’t be rude, Mr. Kogane.” Oh shit, breaking out the last name. “I just had… an epiphany. A solution to this whole, ugly mess.”

“Oh do tell.”

“Well as you know, your… activities cannot be made public. I assume we don’t have to go over the reasons for that again, yes?” Though all he received in response was a roll of Keith’s eyes, he continued. “You’ve done a good amount of damage to your reputation as is, and we need a quick fix before we start losing investors. That’s where Nyma here comes in. Anyone would be lucky to have her own his arm, and that lucky sap is going to be you, Keith.”

“Wait, what?”

The woman beside him rolled her eyes, the entirety of her body language and gestures exaggerated enough that Keith could see it even just from his peripheral vision as she pushed herself further to the edge of her seat.

“You and I both need a boost with the paparazzi here, Keith. You keep being seen with that scrawny little Mexican-“

“He’s Cuban,” he corrected.

“Whatever. You keep being seen in… different lighting. An unflattering one. And  _ I  _ keep being seen alone. The whole, tall, dark, and mysterious thing might work for you, but not for me.”

“So?”

“ _ So _ ,” Zak stressed, hands flat on his desk, “we want you too to be the new ‘it’ couple. That means going to events together, being seen in public almost as often as you’re seen  _ period _ , and stressing the whole relationship thing.”

He couldn’t be hearing all this right. Surely they weren’t suggesting something as ridiculous as dating  _ Nyma.  _ Objectively speaking, she was gorgeous, sure, but there were just a few problems with that. Putting her gender aside—because honestly who hasn’t pretended to be straight before--he would literally rather spend time with a houseplant than a vapid primadonna that just throws on lingerie and calls it modeling.

“If you want me to be straight so bad, why don’t I just pretend to date Allura? Y’know, someone I’ve said more than ten words to and actually enjoy being around.”

“She’s already been seen with that-“ he cleared his throat, obviously rethinking his words, “she’s already been seen with your brother. If we tried that route you’d look like a homewrecker. Besides, she’s not a model. Nyma has been in runway shows, been on Sports Illustrated, she would skyrocket your approval rating.”

“Yeah, doesn’t change the fact that you’re putting way too much faith in my acting abilities.”

“Look,” Nyma cut in, standing up and setting her hands on her hips. “You don’t like me, I get that, the feeling’s mutual, but I  _ really  _ could not care less. You already got that aloof thing going on, no one is going to even notice if you’re all stonefaced when we’re out together. All you have to do is stand there looking pretty, hold my hand, and I’ll do all the talking and schmoozing.”

“That’s not- I can’t do that,” Keith insisted, feeling far too small in that moment.

“You don’t really have a choice, Mr. Kogane. I suppose I don’t need to remind you what will happen if you break contract?”

He swallowed thickly, his blood running hot through his veins, and bit the inside of his cheek to say anything he would regret. “Fine,” he conceded, finally pushing himself to his feet. “Give me a list of events we have to be at and what I have to do in an email. I’ll be leaving now.”

“Great,” Nyma clapped her hands together, and turned back to Zak. “Send me the same, and his usual schedule and phone number, please and thanks.”

Keith felt sick. He needed out, and quickly. He shoved the door open, his jaw clenched almost painfully, and made a beeline for the elevator. But he didn’t miss the sarcastic “see you later, babe” thrown his way before he did.

He waited until he was alone again, and pulled his phone from his pocket. Without a second thought he pulled up Lance’s contact and hit ‘call,’ immediately putting his cell to his ear.

_ “Hey! _ ” He could hear the grin in Lance’s voice when he finally answered.  _ “How’d it go?” _

“We have a problem.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> get fucked
> 
> Okay a couple actually important notes! First, I suck and I still need to find a link to post loonytwin's art, and second aN AMAZING ALLURA COSPLAYER DID THE MAKEUP I DESCRIBED AND I CRIED SO THAT LINK WILL ALSO BE POSTED ONCE I'M NOT ON MY STUPID PHONE
> 
> Now a quick question for you guys. I'm not saying it's a definite right now because I need it to actually fit and feel like a smooth transition, but how would you feel about smut in this fic? Not just vague hints but ACTUAL smut? If you want to read how I write it I have a couple smut fics you can check out already posted
> 
> As always thank you guys so much! New season starts this week so feel free to come scream with me over it on tumblr! My tumblr is imbadatnamesbutihaveanicebutt.tumblr.com


	10. Intergalactic Shithead

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance never considered himself a jealous person. That...apparently wasn't the case when it came to Keith. 
> 
> \----------------
> 
> Lance hates everything going on, Keith hates his job, but they like each other so that's cool.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so I watched the new season and I crave death  
> I figured I wasn't alone in that so here, have a (mostly) angst-free chapter  
> it just...sets itself up for angst. it's fine. I'm fine. everything's fine.  
> but hey look at that another chapter within a week of the last one! I would personally like to thank the fact that I work overnights and have a stupid amount of free time, and that your guys' comments KILL ME every time

Lance never really saw himself as a jealous person. If he was dating someone he obviously still wanted them to have their freedom, be able to talk to whoever they wanted without him hovering over them, and for the most part he stuck to that. Now if the person talking to them was obviously flirting, he would just sort of… swoop in, call his partner some obviously romantic petname, kiss their face, then continue on his way. So long as people knew they were together, he really didn’t care.

That… apparently wasn’t the case with Keith. Every time he saw a picture of him with Nyma he noticed himself glaring, felt an ugly pit of anger and jealousy forming in his stomach. He wanted to be the one with Keith, holding his stupid hand and kissing his stupid face. And yeah, sure, he  _ totally  _ understood why they had to do it, and Keith had told him numerous times that if he really didn’t want him to go along with it he would tell his manager no deal or he walks. That wasn’t fair though. It’s not like they were  _ actually  _ together, and every time Keith was photographed with her he looked like he would rather be anywhere else than where he was in that moment. It just… it still sucked.

What  _ didn’t  _ suck however was Keith’s feeling the need to make up for it by being more affectionate when they got together. Was he taking advantage of his boyfriend’s guilt? Maybe. But Lance never claimed to be a saint.

Keith had taken to showing up at his apartment more too. Granted, it was probably because it was just easier to hang there without being seen, but he wasn’t going to complain. Hunk and Pidge kept true to their word and gave him another chance, and the three of them actually got along pretty well. Sure there were more… heated debates than his apartment was used to—especially when Keith and Pidge got on a surprisingly extensive alien kick--but it was still nice.

“Mars? Your go-to for extraterrestrial life is  _ Mars? Seriously?  _ But that’s so  _ basic! _ ” Keith insisted, his brows furrowed and almost angry.

“It’s the most likely case right now for scientists being able to actually prove anything!” Pidge shot back, leaning over into Lance’s space to point their finger up at Keith who was sat on his right side. “Do  _ you  _ have any other leads?! No?! Shocking!”

“I just think they’re wasting their time! If they really want to find something they need to go beyond our neighboring planet, beyond our galaxy! You think if there was intelligent life just one planet over they wouldn’t have invaded by now? There would have to be some sign that they’ve already been here!”

“Um, excuse me,” Lance piped in, holding a hand up like he was in high school again, “have you not seen the pyramids?”

The room was deathly silent then, Hunk even going so far as to pause the cooking show that was only there as background noise in the first place before sighing softly.

“Why have you forsaken us?”

“Get your ancient aliens bullshit out of my house!” Pidge yelled, pushing at his back to try and get him to stand.

“You don’t even live here!”

“Lance, I think we need to break up.”

“ _ Wow! _ ” He laughed, unable to keep it down after seeing the look of sheer exasperation on Keith’s face. “Would you guys even believe me if I said I was joking? Has that ship sailed?”

“There’s no coming back from that,” Pidge said solemnly, pushing themselves to their feet and grabbing their helmet and bag from the one open armchair in the room. “I have to go home now, to cleanse my mind and body from the sacrilege that has taken place on this night.”

“That’s all it takes?”

“If it weren’t for the fact that I’ve resigned to the idea of crashing here so Zak can’t find me I would have left the second you said ‘pyramids,’” Keith pointed out, arms crossed over his chest as he leaned back into the couch cushion.

“Good man,” Pidge nodded, throwing their backpack on. “I actually told Matt I would be home by midnight, I’ll see you nerds later. And Keith… this isn’t over.”

Hunk subtly peeked out their window, watching their friend leave the building and make their way to their moped before turning back to the others. “I’m gonna hit the hay actually. If you leave before I see you, Keith, good seeing you. Lance, if it weren’t for the laws of this land I would have killed you.”

“Fair enough. G’night buddy!”

There was a tangible awkwardness when the two of them were left alone, and Lance couldn’t help but frown. Weren’t they past that point? It’d been weeks since the whole “boyfriend” thing happened, and Keith had seemed comfortable up until now-

“I, uh,” he started, cheeks flushed pink when Lance looked at him, “I was… just joking about crashing here by the way. I can go stay with Shiro.”

Oh.  _ Oh. _

“I mean, I don’t care,” Lance said, smiling easily when Keith met his gaze. “If you’re comfortable with it, of course, I’d… really like it if you stayed.”

Though he still looked reasonably flustered he returned his smile, and nodded once. “Okay, yeah. I’ll stay here then.”

“Awesome,” Lance pushed himself to his feet, and ran a hand through his hair, trying to dispel the sudden bout of nervousness that threatened to overtake him. “You need to borrow clothes?” He asked, trying to seem nonchalant even though the idea of Keith in his clothes was… Okay, yeah, it was cliche, but he didn’t care. There was just something intimate about sharing clothes, he didn’t know why, didn’t necessarily  _ care  _ why, there just  _ was  _ and he loved it. There was nothing better.

Keith shrugged as he passed him, leading the way to the bedroom with his hands shoved in his pockets. “I usually just sleep in my boxers.”

...He took it back.

“Cool, yep, awesome, alright alright alright-” Lance followed close behind, a hop to his step he would he would never live down if Keith looked back and noticed.

The two stepped into the room, and Lance was suddenly hyper-aware of everything wrong with his bedroom. There were clothes on his floor and his bed wasn’t made and his computer was nestled under one of his pillows next to a stockpile of tissues that he  _ swore  _ weren’t what they looked like, he was sick a few days ago and was watching netflix in bed. Keith said nothing though, just looked at him with a raised brow and a barely there smirk, and Lance groaned, letting his head fall back.

He swept the tissues off his bed, plucked his laptop from the mattress and set it on the desk, all while holding up one hand with his middle finger pointed at his boyfriend. Keith pulled his shirt over his head then pushed his fitted jeans down his thighs, his black boxer briefs contrasting against his pale skin. And Lance craved death.

He’d seen him shirtless, even pantsless in certain shoots, but seeing that in person was… being able to  _ touch him  _ was… yep, he just stopped breathing for a second there. Lance dropped his sweatpants, but kept his shirt on--he knew he had great legs, abs however… He knew who he was as a person. And how much he liked nachos.

Lance got in bed after Keith, and crossed his arms behind his head, staring up at the ceiling.

“I don’t think I’ve ever noticed these,” Keith mumbled, pointing up at the glow-in-the-dark stars on the ceiling.

He followed his gaze, his cheeks flushed pink, and gave a small shrug. “Yeah, I… I had to share a room when I was a kid. My older brother thought they were stupid, so I never got to have them until I moved out. They were uh- the first thing I bought for my room.”

 

* * *

 

 

If Lance were looking at him instead of the ceiling he would see the small smile Keith couldn’t keep off his face. He shifted so he was laying on his side, one arm tucked under his head, and stared back up at the stars. He wasn’t sure why he seemed so embarrassed, especially when that was probably one of the cutest things Keith had ever heard. But if he had learned one thing about Lance, it was that sometimes he couldn’t make him less self-conscious about certain things—he  _ could  _ however, out-embarrass him by embarrassing himself.

“Shiro and I had them up. I’m pretty sure he didn’t like them, but I refused to sleep in our bedroom when mom and I first moved in with him and his dad. I kept  _ demanding  _ I stay with mom, because I was scared of the dark, buuut… I definitely wasn’t. I just didn’t like sharing a room with Shiro.”

“Seriously?” Lance asked, snorting a laugh. “How long did that last?”

“Two months.”

“ _ What?! _ ”

“Yeah!” Keith laughed, rubbing his free hand over his face. “I refused to talk to Shiro or dad for soooo long. I think mom tipped them off that I loved space, because all of a sudden there were the stars on the ceiling and I had space sheets and a poster of the Apollo 11 trajectory plot over my bed to try and butter me up. I mean, I can’t be too mad that she told them, because it definitely worked.”

“So you being a space nerd is nothing new?”

“Not even close. I was four when all that went down, and I  _ immediately  _ loved them. Dad got me a telescope for my fifth birthday, and I definitely have it on my apartment’s balcony right now.”

Lance glanced over at him, a small smile on his face, and he noticed how hard he tried to seem nonchalant as he brought one of his arms down around Keith’s shoulders. Keith stiffened up for just a moment, but forced himself to relax in his hold. He curled in a little closer, his head propped up on Lance’s shoulder, and stared at the wall opposite him.

“I’m surprised you didn’t want to go into something with space. Like own a planetarium or work at NASA or something.”

Keith shrugged, but he felt himself smiling. “I wanted to. I was going to school for astrophysics when all this started. Zak kinda… phased that out a couple years ago--when more companies started requesting me for shoots.”

“Dude… that’s awful.”

“It’s… it’s whatever. I make a lot of money this way, and… I don’t have student loans.”

“Yeah, but are you happy? You mentioned you always hated taking pictures, I don’t understand how that can just… change.”

He shrugged again, closing his eyes. “Money, man. Shiro had hospital bills I wanted to help with, we were still trying to pay off funeral fees for dad, it was… kind of too good to pass up.”

“I guess,” Lance muttered, moving his hand from Keith’s waist to his hair. And even though Keith wasn’t used to it and part of him wanted to move away or swat at his hand, the other part of him thought that it was possibly the best feeling in the world. “Money isn’t an issue anymore though, is it? I mean, Allura owns her company, Shiro does photography, those two can definitely take care of themselves. And you don’t exactly seem like the kind of person to blow all his money on stupid shit, so I bet you have a shit ton in savings.”

“Yeah… the most I spend is on my apartment. And when I bought Red.”

Lance was silent for a moment, probably conjuring up some “mind blowing” wisdom Keith had heard dozens of times before. Instead, he said, “You named your bike Red?”

“ _ That’s  _ what you’re hung up on? Not the fact that I’m ‘wasting my potential’ or ‘doing something that I don’t even like for no reason’ and that ‘if I wanted I could go back to school and do something that actually makes me happy?’”

“Uh… apparently I didn’t need to,” Lance mumbled, looking down at him head on. When Keith didn’t meet his gaze he set a hand under his chin, tilting his face up so he had no other choice. “Do you need to talk about stuff? ‘Cause I thought there was at least  _ something  _ you liked about modeling, but by the sound of it I don’t really think there is.”

No. Keith really didn’t need to talk about it. He’d had the same conversation with Shiro dozens of times since he dropped out two years ago, and they always reached the same conclusion. That Keith wasn’t happy, and if he wasn’t happy he should change things. But it… it wasn’t that easy. It could  _ never  _ be that easy. His contract was set for five years, he couldn’t just drop it and move on just like that. And if he did try to drop it, he knew Zak would go back on his word and fuck up things for Lance anyway. Even if he didn’t think of Lance as his boyfriend, even if he didn’t care about him more than he probably did anyone else  _ ever _ , he refused to do that to anyone. Just because his dreams got fucked up didn’t mean he could do that to someone else.

“Keith?”

“What?”

“Is there  _ anything  _ you like about what you’re doing?”

Keith thought, he thought about it long and hard, his face scrunched up in what probably looked like sheer frustration. It felt like an eternity before something finally hit him.

“I got to meet you.”

Even in the dark he could see Lance’s cheek flush, the color spreading to the tips of his ears, and his boyfriend quickly put his free hand over his face. “Oh my _god_ ,” he groaned, looking almost pained when he finally looked at Keith again. “You can’t just _say_ stuff like that, I think I almost died!”

“Yeah, I’m not sorry,” he grinned, actually surprised with himself with how easily he was able to say that. It just… came so naturally when he was with Lance. He had never really been the poster child for emotional availability, he knew that, but with him  _ everything  _ felt easier. It was exceptionally unnerving, but he couldn’t deny that he kinda liked it.

Unless someone asked him. Then he would one hundred percent deny it until the day he died.

“I’m going to kiss you now,” Lance said, bringing Keith out of his thoughts with a start. “And not because I’ve been swept off my feet, but because you have that stupid, smug grin on your face and I hate you.”

“Fair enough,” Keith said, meeting him halfway as he leaned down to press his lips to his.

Lance kissed like he did most other things in life—with everything in him. He kissed him like it was the last thing he would ever do, with such intensity and vigor it almost made Keith dizzy. It always started a little tentative, a soft and slow slide of their lips, with his hands cupping his face. He pulled away just a moment to turn onto his side to face him fully, then he pulled Keith in close, one hand at the small of his back and the other in his hair.

Keith hummed into the kiss, and slid one arm under the other’s neck, immediately reaching that hand up to cradle his head. His free hand, once holding the front of his shirt, moved down his body then slid up his shirt, feeling the soft skin under his fingertips. Lance groaned as he dragged his nails down the side of his bare ribs, and kissed him harder, pushed closer.

His teeth nipped and tugged at Keith’s bottom lip, pulling a moan out of him that only fueled his enthusiasm. Lance slipped one leg between his, and set a hand on his shoulder, giving himself the leverage to push Keith onto his back and lay between his legs. He sat up and looked down at him, his breath heavy and cheeks flushed, eyes dark and surprisingly predatory.

Keith bit his lip, his body feeling impossibly hot, and pushed at the bottom of Lance’s shirt. He got the message and followed his instruction, pulling his shirt all the way over his head and tossing it aside. But then he stopped a moment, his movements actually stuttering before Keith’s eyes, and he was insane if he thought his boyfriend missed that telltale look in his eyes.

Lance was self-conscious.  _ How  _ Keith would never understand, but that was definitely the feeling lingering in his bright blue eyes. And Keith wasn’t going to have any of that.

He sat up the best he could, one hand on the bed behind him to keep himself propped up, and set the other on Lance’s hip to pull him closer. His thumb rubbed a couple soothing circles on his hip bone until he felt him relax under his hand. Then he slid his hand up, taking his time feeling his soft, yet slightly toned stomach, then his chest, his collarbones, before sliding along the side of his neck.

“You’re so beautiful,” he breathed, his thumb grazing the underside of Lance’s jaw. Because for some reason, if someone else was feeling insecure or awkward enough his anxiety went away and he could just… say things like that without a second thought. And it was true. Lance  _ was  _ beautiful. With or without makeup, every time Keith saw him, he struggled. Struggled to see how someone could be  _ that fucking perfect  _ and yet so  _ unaware _ .

“Keith,” Lance whined, dragging out his name, and wrapped his arms around his shoulders, burying his face in his neck. “You can’t just  _ say stuff  _ like that.”

“I mean it though.”

“ _ How? _ ”

“Okay have you seriously never seen yourself? I’ve seen the amount of mirrors you own, man, that seems unlikely.”

“Keith. You’re literally a model.”

“I… am not seeing your point.”

“Just shut up and hug me back.”

Keith flushed, an almost shy smile forming on his face as he wrapped his arms securely around his waist. “So uh… I take it making out has been put on the back burner here?”

“Yes.”

“Cool, just wanted to be on the same page.”

When Lance finally pulled away he was smiling again, all previous signs of his embarrassment gone save for the light pink dusting his cheeks.

“I’m really glad I met you, Keith,” he whispered, and this time it was Keith’s turn to short-circuit.

“And you yell at  _ me  _ for saying sappy shit.”

“You started all of this, don’t even go there.” 

After calling a truce, they both settled back into their previous positions, with Lance’s arm wrapped around his shoulders and Keith’s head pillowed on his bare chest. He draped one arm over his waist, idly running his fingers along his side in time with Lance’s on his back, and for the first time in a long time, Keith felt like everything was going to be okay. Sure, things still sucked and he was going to have to work his ass off to figure everything out, but in that moment, nestled against Lance under the glow in the dark stars, everything was okay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> remember that "Keith doesn't know what he's doing with his life tag" that I had yet to incorporate? well here you go  
> just a little bit of very minor angst that will lead to BIG angst later and fluffy ass making out *double finger guns*  
> NOW IMPORTANT THINGS SINCE I'M ON MY COMPUTER FINALLY  
> FIRST OF ALL  
> HERE'S THIS GLORIOUS PERSON THAT DID THE ALLURA MAKEUP AND MADE ME CRY:  
> http://romanticfreestyle.tumblr.com/post/159238903987/more-than-just-a-pretty-face-written-by  
> AND HERE'S LOONYTWIN'S ART THAT ALSO MADE ME CRY:  
> https://www.facebook.com/loonytwin/posts/1317209698359150  
> their art is seriously amazing and now that I finally have money again I'm 100% gonna commission them again SO what scene from this fic would you guys want to see drawn out?? I'm drawing a blank rn (probably because I just got off from my overnight shift and instead of going to bed finished this AND drew up patterns for paladin armor)  
> Thanks again for reading you guys are all so sweet and your comments really do make my day and inspire me to keep this going! I have a few more things planned and I want to tell you guys to be excited but really I should probably be apologizing lmao  
> also my tumblr is still imbadatnamesbutihaveanicebutt.tumblr.com so plEASE come scream with me over the new season because I'm dying


	11. Actually Several Gay Aliens in a Human Suit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "What’s the point in everything if you’re not happy?”
> 
> Keith sighed, and shook his head, closing his eyes for a moment as he tried to gather his thoughts.
> 
> “Why are you so afraid of change?”
> 
> \-------
> 
> Keith knows he has to do something if he wants out, he just doesn't know what. That is, until he decides to go out with a bang.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Kirk, why do you always post new chapters in the middle of the night?"  
> Well you see, I work overnights, and seeing as my job is in a slow season, I have a lot of free time and little impulse control so if it's ready it's getting posted NOW  
> ANYWAY  
> HOLY SHIT GUYS I THINK WE'RE NEARING THE END HERE  
> I don't have an exact idea of how many chapters but I'm thinking at most 3? but who tf am I to say I don't plan things we die like men  
> sorry this is my second time writing the notes because my phone's a dick  
> as always I love ya'll, enjoy the chapter *double finger guns*

Keith had never been very humble when it came to the things he was good at. When he was young he would rattle off fact after fact about space then proudly puff out his chest at the praise he received. In high school he was never afraid to point out when someone was wrong and correct them—as well as following through on his threats to kick someone’s ass if they wanted to start a fight with him. And when he started modeling he accepted the compliments thrown his way, sometimes replying with a simple, almost arrogant “it’s easy.” But the one thing he prided himself most on, the one thing he had always been  _ best at _ , was his ability to lie.

Now granted, it wasn’t like he ever wanted to lie to someone over something important. He hadn’t wanted to tell Lance they couldn’t be friends, and he never wanted to lie to the public about his sexuality. But the one person he was absolutely the best at lying to was himself.

He convinced himself he was doing the right thing by lying to Lance months ago. He told himself that he really didn’t care if he couldn’t come out. Keith had even started to believe that he really enjoyed modeling. It wasn’t until he talked to Lance that he realized maybe he needed to stop believing his own lies.  

Since they started dating, he spent most weekends with Lance. In fact, he spent most free time with him. His own apartment, though bigger and objectively nicer than his boyfriend’s, had started to suffocate him. All the magazines, the posters, the memorabilia that came with his career started to mock him, make Keith wrinkle his nose and cringe every time he looked at them. Because Keith sold out. 

He had never liked people taking photos of him, and yet he made a career out of it. And sure, he told Lance he didn’t care, that the money was nice and that was what mattered, but he knew his boyfriend saw through that in a second. Even as Keith said it he saw the cracks in his lie, and now as he was left alone to dwell on it, it started to all fall apart completely. 

Keith hated modeling. Hated the vapid, self-absorbed people he had to work with. Hated Nyma and how easily she adapted to pretending to date him for the sake of image. Hated his manager and all of his backwards-ass ideas. But most of all, he hated himself for letting someone change him, and turning his back on the one thing that always made him happy.

He took down the posters, packed away the photos, and boxed up the magazines. He shut everything that reminded him of his mistakes away in the closet, and stopped to look at what remained in his living room. There were a couple motorcycle magazines sitting beside his laptop, one shelf in his bookcase full of science-fiction and art books and another with a dozen or so movies he bought himself that he still hadn’t watched because he’d been too busy. His apartment felt too quiet, too cold. 

It wasn’t often that he had people over—bullshit like paparazzi and contract rules—and even then there were only three people that had ever even stepped foot in the place. Shiro, Allura, and Thace—and that was only when he isolated himself and they felt the need to check in and make sure he was still alive. He didn’t have game nights or movie marathons or stupid teenager sleepovers like Lance did, and for years he was okay with that. But now he’s gotten a taste for socializing, and even when it’s not just him and Lance, he found that he actually enjoyed being around the people his boyfriend hung out with. He enjoyed being around friends. 

That’s it, he was going crazy. 

Keith snatched his phone from the coffee table, and frowned when he saw he had unread texts from Nyma. Since their deal she was always contacting him, trying to get him to do more than just events together and go out on “dates.”

**_Nyma [18:02]:_ ** _ Had an interview today, told them you approached me first, so if anyone asks you that’s how it happened. I don’t feel like typing everything out so just watch it when it airs, k?  _

**_Nyma [18:04]:_ ** _ Btw next time we’re together we should get some candids or whatever, the Internet LOVES candids _

He wrinkled his nose when he tried to picture what those would even be like, and before he knew it he was dialing Lance’s number, his heart pounding rapidly when his thoughts caught up with his body. Just as quickly as he started the call he hung up, face flushed as he glared down at his cell. 

“What am I doing?” He muttered, physically jolting when it started ringing in his hand. Keith swallowed thickly, and on the fifth ring he answered. “Hey.”

_ “Hey babe! You never call, what’s up?” _

Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck.

“N-nothing, just uh- just wanted to hear your voice.”

Lance was quiet for a moment, and even with the nerves pushing his heart into his stomach, Keith smiled, because he knew he successfully flustered him.

The other man cleared his throat, and he could hear a door close.  _ “That’s really gay. And super cute. And now I’m suspicious. Are you  _ sure  _ nothing’s going on?” _

“Yeah, I’m just… cleaning up my apartment.” There was another moment of silence, one he knew Lance left for him to fill in, and he sighed. “Do you… want to come over? You can invite Hunk and Pidge, and I’ll ask Shiro and Allura? We could watch a few movies or play one of those dumb board games you like or something.”

_ “Okay first of all they’re not dumb you’re just bitter that you lost-“  _ fair enough,  _ “and yeah dude! Sounds awesome! Uh.I promised Mama I’d stay until my sister got here—but that should only be like an hour—so if you text me your address I’ll pass it along and just head over when I’m done here. Cool?” _

“Yeah, yeah that works. I’ll… text you, and order a few pizzas for everyone. I’ll see you later.”

_ “Awesome! See ya!” _

“Oh, uh…  Lance?”

_ “Yeah? _ ”

“You should stay over.”

_ “Ooh, ulterior motives. I see you, Kogane, I see you. _ ”

Before Keith could get a single word out Lance laughed then hung up, leaving him flustered and far too aware of what he’d just done.

He had friends coming over.

Was he even allowed to  _ have  _ friends come over?

No, fuck that. He was a grown ass man and if he wanted to have a sleepover with his boyfriend and friends then he fucking would.

Keith sent a quick text to Shiro telling him he and Allura should come over then set to work. He collected all the blankets he’d managed to stockpile over the years, including the shitty, weeb fleece blankets from the dark days, and all the pillows off his bed. All seven of them. Because he was a hoarder like that. He also grabbed the four from the guest room Shiro conned him into setting up as well as the comforter and dropped his findings on his sofa. He pushed his coffee table so it was beside his sofa, then dragged the cushions from it as well as the two armchairs he had onto the floor. He arranged them into a makeshift mattress—though it was much larger—then set up all the blankets and pillows on top of them. 

After a second of thought he grabbed the dining room chairs he never used and set two on each side of the bed, then ran back to his room to grab his sheets. They were dorky, black sheets covered in white stars, and even  _ Shiro  _ didn’t know he owned them. He draped the sheets over the chairs, and mcgaivered them so they were more structurally secure. His cheeks flushed bright red as he looked over his handiwork, and he couldn’t help the urge to drag everything back down. He almost did, until he heard knocking at his door.

He wasn’t entirely sure why he was so nervous, but he swore he could hear his heart beating as he went to open the door. His nerves settled down when he saw Hunk and Pidge practically beaming at him, and for the first time in days he felt  _ warm _ . 

“Hey,” he breathed, smiling, and stepped aside so they could walk inside. “Sorry to drag you guys into this, I know you’re probably busy but uh- I was gonna order pizza and we could probably talk Lance into bringing booze and I have movies so-“

“Dude. Is that a blanket fort?” 

He glanced back at the fort then looked at Pidge, blushing all the way to his ears. “Y-yeah?”

“That is so. Fucking. Awesome. Dude I haven’t made one of those since I was a kid! You totally should have told us you were doing it we could’ve brought more blankets!” They grinned, looking more energetic than Keith had probably ever seen them as they dashed into his apartment and made a beeline for the fort.

“I think I actually might still have some in my car?” Hunk offered, before handing over a plate of cookies.

“There’s no way you had time to make these.”

“Keith, my man, I am always prepared.  _ Always _ .”

Just twenty minutes later Shiro and Allura were at his door, and Keith crawled out from his spot at the back of the fort, climbing almost effortlessly over the sofa in the process, then opened it with an actual smile on his face. His brother gave one of his own despite how surprised he was, and Allura wasted no time in passing the both of them in favor of the fort. 

“This is… new,” Shiro grinned, closing the door behind him, and moved to set the bottles of wine they’d brought on the coffee table. “We haven’t made one of these since we were kids.”

“I’ve never made one,” Allura piped in, wrapped in one of the fluffy blankets Hunk had retrieved from his car. When the two she’d never met gave her matching looks of shock and awe she simply shrugged. “Only child, busy father, it never came up.”

“N-no, uh… you’re Allura. Aren’t you like… Lance’s boss?”

“Oh! I mean, well, yes, but I’m also Shiro’s girlfriend and I’ve known Keith since he was small.”

“Keith what the fuck even is your life?”

He shrugged, unscathed as he made his way back to his spot. He had moved the DVDs he had to the naked sofa frame, and started to shuffle through them, suddenly a little embarrassed of how out of the loop he was.

“Okay, um, I have  _ Pacific Rim, The Boy, Guardians of the Galaxy, Deadpool, Crimson Peak- _ “

“Ooh, I vote that one!” Hunk said, surprising possibly everyone around him. “What? I like Guillermo del Toro.”

Keith shrugged again, and climbed over his friend’s legs to get to his television and DVD player. He knew Lance had already seen it since they watched  _ Pans Labyrinth _ and he went on an hour long tangent about how fucked up the director’s movies were but how much he still loved his horror films, so he wasn’t worried about starting it without him. Besides, he couldn’t wait any longer to freak out his brother.

It wasn’t until Shiro was hiding behind his girlfriend from the violence of a character getting killed that Keith realized he lost his phone. It took a little bit of searching, but finally he was able to dig his phone out from where it’d disappeared deep within the cushions. He unlocked it to sneak a photo of the two, before checking the multitude of texts from Lance.

**_Lance [20:45]:_ ** _ YO YOU DID NOT TELL ME YOU WERE BUILDING A FORT _

**_Lance [20:46]:_ ** _ I NEED TO DROP BY THE APARTMENT REAL QUICK, IF WE’RE DOIN THIS WE’RE DOIN IT RIGHT _

**_Lance [20:48]:_ ** _ I’M LEAVING MY MOM’S NOW THEN I AM *THERE* _

**_Lance [20:50]:_ ** _ I’ll grab some bitch beers too! _

**_Lance [21:22]:_ ** _ alright I got a massive haul of shit for this and some games you claim to hate I’m on my way <3 _

“Did… did someone tell Lance?”

“Snapchat, homie. Got some pictures of you too up there.”

Keith frowned, his brows furrowed, as he pulled up the app. “Pidge, what’s your username?”

“’Pidgey-I-choose-you.’”

He curiously entered in the name, then tapped on their story, his eyes going wide when it started. The first picture was of Pidge and Hunk in his car, both throwing up peace signs with the dog filter giving them both ears and muzzles, captioned “headin’ to our edgelord’s place.” There were a couple different angles of the fort then with several sparkle emojis and a multitude of exclamation points. The last one was Keith, just moments ago, with a small, undeniable pout on his lips as he stared at his phone, captioned “’when will my husband return from the war.’”

He glared at his friend, ready to tell them not to take pictures of him when he wasn’t paying attention, when there was another knock at his door. “This isn’t over,” he grumbled, making his way back to the door maybe too quickly, then threw it open.

“Pidge, you outdated meme!” Lance yelled, looking past Keith, his arms full of bags. Then he looked at him, and gestured forward with his elbow the best he could. “Care to help me with these, tall, dark, and edgy?”

“You’ve used that already,” he pointed out as he took half the bags from the other man, taking them directly to the coffee table to the side of the fort. “Jesus, dude, did you bring your entire apartment?”

“Hey, this is all important. If we’re doin’ a sleepover, we need fairy lights and face masks and enough booze to kill a small child.”

“Like… by hitting them or because they drank it?”

“Yes.”

“Helpful, alright.” Though he was being sarcastic he was grinning, helping Lance unpack everything. “Okay, if you didn’t bring the apartment you definitely brought your pantry. Hunk, you guys might go hungry after this.”

“I only brought the junk, thank you very much. You should know you can’t have a sleepover without pizza rolls and chicken nuggets.”

“Yoooo,” Pidge called, leaning over Hunk so they were visible. “Gimme some of those nugs, man.”

“Let me at least heat them up you little vulture.” He plucked the frozen bag from Keith then looked all around, getting a good look at his apartment for the first time while also searching for the kitchen. Lance whistled as he made his way to the kitchen, and Keith followed. “Swanky. Seriously, this place is crazy nice. I thought your door guy downstairs was gonna kick me out.”

“He was probably trying to remember if you were on my ‘don’t let near me’ list.”

“I’m sorry, your what now?” He asked, glancing at him before going back to his perusal of the kitchen. “Don’t let Hunk see this, he’ll never leave.”

“I don’t like industry people knowing where I live,” he said with a shrug, hands shoved in his pockets. “The list is just like… Zak and Thace and Nyma.”

Lance stood still a moment, his back turned to Keith so he couldn’t try and read his expression. “Has she tried to come here?”

“She brought it up once, but I shot her down. You guys are uh- kinda the first people I’ve invited over that’s not my brother.”

“Good,” he hummed, rummaging through his cupboards until he found a large enough plate. “Dude, I know I’ve dropped you off before, but did you just move in? It’s so… empty.”

“No, um… I’m just never really home, y’know?”

Once the snacks were in the microwave Lance hopped up onto the counter, and opened his arms to Keith, gesturing him over. He wordlessly slotted himself between his boyfriend’s legs and wrapped his arms around his waist, tilting his chin up almost expectantly. Lance snickered as he dropped his arms to his shoulders, and ducked his head down to press his lips to his. The kiss was chaste and tender, and Keith subconsciously squeezed the other man closer.

Lance moved his hands to cup his jaw, and gently pushed him away, his brows furrowed. “Okay, as much as I love kissing you, that definitely just proved that something’s going on. What’s up? You know you can tell me anything. I mean, unless it’s that stupid ‘I don’t want to ruin your career so I’m gonna stop talking to you’ thing again. That you can keep to yourself.”

Keith snorted a laugh, and did his best to force a convincing smile onto his face. “It’s nothing.”

“Y’know, you’re not as good of a liar as you think you are when something’s really bothering you.”

“Shut up, yes I am.”

“Keeeeith.”

He sighed, and dropped his head forward on his chest, his arms going slack. “Do we have to do this?”

“Yes, because I want to make out with you later, and I can’t do that if I’m worried about you,” he said, holding him securely, and even went as far as to wrap his legs around his waist.

Keith was quiet for a long moment, focusing on the movie playing and his friends talking in the other room instead of how much he wanted to scream. How did he tell his boyfriend he was miserable without making him panic? 

“I just… ugh. God, Lance, you know I’m bad at talking.”

“I’m in no rush. Besides, you missed important stuff in the movie, and we’re definitely gonna have to rewatch it together anyway.”

He grimaced into his chest, then turned his head to the side. “Just… I’m not…  _ happy, _ ” he felt Lance tense and gently squeezed him, shaking his head as he did. “Not this, not you, I-“ love you— _ NOPE _ — “it’s just… work. I hate it. And I know that’s not news, but I hate Zak and this whole Nyma thing, and- and did you know I’m not even supposed to have people over? Because if we’re seen together then you’re seen coming into my building, rumors start, and I have to avoid that shit. And it’s- jesus, Lance, I fucking hate it. I don’t want to have to talk to people I hate and take pictures with them to try and convince people I give even a single fuck about her when I  _ don’t _ —I want to take stupid pictures with you and not have to worry about you actually posting them and being taken the wrong way- right way?  _ Ugh. _ ”

Lance ran his fingers through his hair as he rambled on, and when he was sure Keith was finished he pressed a kiss to the top of his head. “You know you don’t  _ have to  _ keep this up, right? Money isn’t tight for you, and even if Zak tries to fuck things up for me or you we have Allura, and… Okay, maybe this is just me having a big head, but… I think… you’re the happiest when you’re with me, and you’re kind of miserable on your own or going to work. And I’m not saying I think things aren’t gonna work out with us, but if they don’t, you should have something else that can make you happy. Like, what’s the point in everything if you’re not happy?”

Keith sighed, and shook his head, closing his eyes for a moment as he tried to gather his thoughts.

“Why are you so afraid of change?”

Just as he was about to answer, he heard someone else walk into the kitchen and gag.

“Really guys? My nuggets get abandoned for  _ this?  _ Jesus,” they muttered, going up to the microwave. They checked to make sure they were fully cooked before taking the plate, shaking their head at the two one more time for good measure before walking back out.

“Keith, come pick the next movie!” Allura called. “I know you haven’t seen any of these, and we won’t be starting without you two!”

He rubbed his hands over his face, and stepped away from Lance, leaving his last question to just hang between them. He heard Lance sigh behind him as he followed him back to the fort, and his boyfriend quietly climbed in where Keith had sat last.

Hunk had retrieved the bag of remaining snacks and had them in the center of them all along with the beers and wine and cookies. Shiro and Allura had taken to taking swigs straight out of one bottle, Shiro leaning back against the edge of the fort with his girlfriend settled between his legs. Pidge was sharing the chicken nuggets but didn’t seem too happy about it as they tried to angle the plate away from everyone else. Everyone looked comfortable and like they were having fun, and then there was Lance and Keith. Fucking angsting. Great.

Keith looked at the pile of movies, and settled on  _ The Boy _ , not missing how his brother seemed to visibly pale when he saw which one he chose. He actually smirked as he switched out the DVDs, already feeling at least a little better than he had. After hitting play he crawled back between his friends, nabbing the other bottle of wine on his way to the back, and settled down beside Lance. His boyfriend was sitting cross-legged, a small pout on his lips, and without a second thought Keith threw his legs in his lap. He leaned in closer and rested his head on his shoulder, one arm wrapping around one of Lance’s, and the other practically cradling the wine as he attempted to get the top off. 

It wasn’t long before he felt Lance relax beside him—which honestly was a feat considering how much he was tensing and jumping at the jumpscares the movie was throwing at them—and he finally wrapped his arm around Keith’s shoulders. Keith looked up at him, and when he looked down to meet his gaze he pressed a soft kiss to his lips. 

Then he got an idea. 

It was probably a terrible one, but goddammit, he was doing it.

He pulled his phone out of his back pocket, and opened up the camera app. “Hey,” he murmured, getting Lance to look at him again. Keith leaned in and kissed his cheek, his free hand holding his jaw in place, and tapped the capture button. When he sat back, and looked at the photo, he felt his cheeks flush. Lance was looking at him through half-lidded eyes, and he had an almost shy smile on his face.

“What are you doing?” He murmured, looking down at his phone screen as Keith opened his Instagram app.

He may have hated social media, but he knew how quickly it would gain attention. Without a second thought he uploaded the picture, leaving the caption blank but tagging Lance before tossing his cell phone aside. “Getting fired.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so I know this one is very Keith-centric but things got away from me so *shrug emoji*  
> thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed it! I would leave my tumblr but I'm terrible at checking that so idk if you want to be friends or send me links to things my instagram is thatspacegay lol  
> NOW. COMPLETELY (slightly?) UNRELATED BUT. I. WANT. TO WRITE. A HIGH SCHOOL DND AU. I want to say I'll wait until this is finished to start it but I know who I am as a person and know that I have two more hours of free time and a lot of ideas nagging at me so I guess if you like my writing and/or want to fall into dnd hell with me keep an eye out for that lol
> 
> **Edit: I wrote the first chapter for that and posted it literally two days after this if you want to read it lmao


	12. Homosexualien

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is fine. Everything is fine. It- something had to be done. Was it reckless? Sure! A little stupid? Maybe! But did Keith regret it?
> 
> He… wasn’t sure yet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *kicks open the door* I'M BACK  
> I'VE DONE IT  
> A CHAPTER I AM HAPPY WITH  
> THE HIATUS IS OVER AND I WILL BE UPDATING MORE THAN ONCE EVERY 10 MONTHS  
> Hello my name is Kirk and I swear I'm a decent writer lmao  
> Before getting into this update I'm gonna get all mushy on y'all. If you didn't read the previous author's note (and it has since been deleted) go ahead and ignore the rest of this if you want and skip on down to the chapter, but if you did see it and especially if you commented on it, thank you. Thank you for understanding, and being so sweet and so supportive. Though I deleted the chapter I kept all the comments, because... it's hard to put into words just what it meant to be. But it helped me tremendously, and I don't think this chapter would have been written if not for you guys. So thank you thank you thank you (:

This is fine. Everything is fine. It- _something_ had to be done. Was it reckless? Sure! A little stupid? Maybe! But did Keith regret it?

He… wasn’t sure yet.

His phone had been buzzing incessantly since the photo was posted; notifications flooding in from the comments, direct messages, texts, emails, all things he couldn’t bear to look at. Keith realized, of course, that not everyone would be angry. It was insane to assume every single reaction was negative considering the amount of people it would have reached, and even if he _did_ think that way--which of course he did who was he kidding--the remaining rational side of his brain realized that was also impossible.

And he wasn’t completely ignorant. He knew what people already thought about him and Lance, what theories and speculations were floating around, and the support they already had. It wasn’t so much a reveal, really, as a confirmation for most of their fans.

Keith huffed, attempting to physically expel the negative thoughts, and was met with a finger prodding at his forehead, just between his brows. He leaned back and away from the touch, brows furrowing once more, and met Lance’s gaze.

“I… think I know the answer already, but are you okay?” He whispered, letting the hand that was raised fall back to his lap.

Keith opened his mouth to reply, hoping something- _anything_ would come out, but nothing did. Even though his thoughts were racing, he couldn’t find a way to formulate any of them into words. He instead let out an exasperated sigh, and dropped his head back against the sofa frame.

“Yeah, that’s about what I was expecting.” Lance cleared his throat as he sat up, and clapped his hands together to get their other friends’ attention. “Friends, Romans, countrymen- we’re gonna bounce.”

The others looked back at them, varying degrees of confusion obvious on their faces, but Lance waved them off.

“Just for like, an hour. Keithy boy needs some air, and I need a minute alone with him to get all mushy and gay and I’m sure none of you want to see that.”

“God, yeah okay, get out please,” Pidge asked, rubbing their hands over their face as if they were suddenly reminded of something they were desperately trying to forget.

Lance shot them a finger gun while his free hand took Keith’s, and crept out from under one of the blanket walls beside them. Without a word he guided him towards the door, taking only a moment to pause and slip on his shoes before leaving the apartment. Keith let him take his hand again, but remained a step behind, his gaze moving between the back of his boyfriend’s head and the floor. He made the right choice… didn’t he?

“So like, I wanted to seem all cool and spontaneous and like I know exactly where I’m going, but uh- definitely don’t. Soooo how do we get to your building’s roof? You mentioned sneaking up there before.”

The corner of his lips quirked up, and he cocked his head slightly. “The roof? Why the roof?”

“Well I _did_ tell them I was taking you to get fresh air, and I don’t want to be a liar. Plus you like stars, and I thought being able to see them might make you feel better.”

Yeah. He definitely made the right choice.

Keith turned on his heel, pulling Lance along behind him as he started down the opposite way of the hall. He opened the door to the stairwell, and led him up the three flights to a door labelled “Authorized Personnel Only.” Though he knew there was no one else in the stairwell he leaned over the handrail to double check, then tried the door. Half of the time it was locked, half the time someone didn’t bother to check it, and luckily tonight seemed to be the latter.

He stepped back to hold the door open to Lance, and gestured to the ladder inside. “After you.”

“That’s just so you can look at my butt, isn’t it?” Lance put his hands on his hips, looking almost scandalized, before approaching the ladder. And yes, he did put a little extra umph to his hips as he did.

“Definitely why,” he said, following after him after he climbed up a few rungs.

Lance pushed open the hatch at the top, then stopped halfway through climbing out.

“There a problem?”

“N-no, uh-” he stopped, then pulled himself all the way out. He leaned down, reaching a hand out to Keith with the brightest smile on his face. “Holy shit dude.”

Keith smiled, taking his hand, and used his other to push himself up onto the roof. “Amazing, right?”

Lance squeezed his hand, though Keith doubted he even realized he had, and let out a soft “woah” as he circled in place. Keith lived in one of the taller buildings in the city, and with that came the incredible view over the others around him. The lights below them shined brighter than he thought possible, and the city stretched further than he had ever seen before. All the cars and people seemed miles away, along with the chaos that came with them. Though he was only a few floors away from his phone, it felt like he was lifetimes away from it, and… he felt like he could really breathe.

He moved over to the ledge and took a seat on the concrete behind it, setting his hands behind him to lean back and look up at the sky. Lance followed behind but said nothing as he sat down beside him, crossing his arms on the ledge, his gaze on Keith’s face. They sat in silence, the sounds of the city below lulling them into a sense of comfortable security.

After who knows how long, Lance broke the silence by clearing his throat. Keith didn’t look at him, his gaze locked on the big dipper above, but cocked his head in his direction to show he was listening.

“So… I don’t want to make you talk about things if you don’t want to, but I know you’re really anxious and I’m hoping this will help or well, geez, not help but maybe make you feel a little better and not at all pressured into anything but I- fuck, um-”

“Lance?”

“Yeah?”

“I love you.”

Wait. He didn’t mean to-

Did Keith just-

…Y’know. Yeah. Actually… yeah. He had been struggling for words for so long, but that’s the first thing that came out. The first thing that felt… right to say.

He turned his head to look at Lance, an easy smile on his face, and snorted a laugh when he saw him. Lance was looking at him like a deer in headlights, eyes wide and jaw hanging open. Keith shifted his weight to one hand, and raised the other to push his boyfriend’s chin up, closing his mouth for him.

“You good?”

“I can’t believe you beat me to it!” Lance yelled, throwing his hands up in the air before falling to his back. “It was such the perfect moment! Sitting on your roof after that bold declaration that you were quitting and posting the picture of us looking at the stars! It was so good and my chance was _right there!_ ”

He quirked a brow at him before laying on his side behind him, his once sweet smile turning into something more smug. “That’s how you’re reacting? I tell you I love you, and you act like it was a competition?”

“It was!” He yelled, finally looking at Keith again. He looked ready to continue his rant, but his words seem to die on his tongue. Instead he pursed his lips, meeting his smile with a pout and furrowed brows, before crumbling into laughter. “Oh my god,” Lance got out, putting his hands over his face. “I can’t believe it. Y’know, I thought about this moment a lot? I had all these plans to make you dinner, maybe take you out, go dancing or go to a planetarium- all these plans to make telling you I love you for the first time all romantic but instead it’s on your roof. Which we’re only on because you would have exploded otherwise.”

“Are you mad?” Keith asked, his smile fading.

“Are you kidding?” Lance finally moved his hands away from his face, and turned his head towards him, a blinding smile on his face. “How could I be mad? I- god, how do I even put it into words?”

“I mean with how you were rambling earlier, I don’t know if you can.”

“Shut it.” Lance pushed himself up, and gestured for Keith to do the same, before pulling him into his lap. He wrapped his arms around him, holding his hands at his tailbone, and leaned in to press a kiss to his lips. Keith draped his arms around his neck, one hand resting at the back of his head, and threaded his fingers through his hair.

He kissed him tenderly, a soft, sweet slide of his lips. And when he leaned back to look at him, Lance had a dreamy look in his eyes. Until-

“Y’know, you still haven’t said it back.”

Lance looked almost confused before looking absolutely exasperated. “Oh my god!” He ran his hands over his face, then--gently--slapped Keith’s cheeks between them. “Keith Kogane, snark master supreme, most stubborn and smart man I know, beauty incarnate-”

“Get on with it,” he interrupted, squinting at him with a teasing smile on his face.

“Don’t rush me, these things are important. _Anyway._ I… love you. I love you more than words can describe.”

“Well, maybe not your words.”

“Can’t you just leave things nice?”

“Sorry.”

“You absolutely are not, but I love you anyway.”

Keith smiled, and reached up to hold Lance’s wrists before leaning in to kiss him again.

When they finally pulled apart, Lance sighed, falling forward to let his head fall to his chest. “That’s… god it’s so nice to get that off my chest. Do you know how annoying I’ve been to Hunk? It was like word vomit every time you left, just rambling to him on and on about feelings. He’s gonna be _so_ happy he doesn’t have to hear it anymore.”

“And now I get to?”

“Exactly.”

“Great,” Keith dragged out the word, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

“Be nice, you love me.”

“You got me there.”

Lance beamed, smiling so big it made his eyes crinkle in the corners. He wrapped his arms around his waist again, and brought his knees up to bring the other man closer. “So… not to kill this sickly sweet mood we have going on, but… what are you gonna do now?”

Keith groaned, the smile immediately dropping from his face, and closed his eyes. “I don’t know. I didn’t exactly have a plan going into that. I just… couldn’t do it anymore. I fucking hated my job, and I was tired of being miserable. So I thought yeah okay let’s do this reckless thing that there’s no coming back from and- nope. Not gonna spiral.”

“Proud of you.”

“Thanks. So… first things first, deal with Zak screaming at me and firing me. Then I’ll… find out what I really want to do I guess? I mean, I have enough in savings right now, but I’ll probably have to find a new place. This building is… not cheap. And way too big. The only thing I’ll really miss is the roof.”

“Y’know, this might be shocking, but I’ve heard other apartment buildings do indeed have roofs.”

“Well fuck me, I have nothing I have to worry about then, do I?” Keith asked, cocking his head at him.

“I can help you find a new place. Maybe one not forever away from me.”

“Soft maybe. I was considering moving directly into the sun.”

“Idea: don’t do that.”

“I’ll consider it.”

Lance rolled his eyes but grinned, rocking them side to side until Keith smiled too. “C’mon, cheer up. This is great! You get to live your life on your own instead of under some asshole’s thumb!”

“Yeah…”

“And you get to do something you actually enjoy.”

“Right.”

“And you don’t have to keep up some straight guy act--which reminds me, who believed that in the first place?”

“Uh… you did, if I remember right.”

“The mullet threw me off, okay?”

“Sure thing, babe.”

“Okay but real talk though--you’re gonna be okay, Keith. It’s gonna be crazy, probably confusing, but it’s gonna be okay. You have me and Shiro and Allura and Hunk and Pidge, and we’re all gonna be here to support you. Even if you screw up or freak out or think you’re all alone in this, we’re all gonna be here to knock some sense back into you.”

The corner of his lips quirked up into a small smile, and he looked out over the ledge to watch the city again, just letting his boyfriend’s comforting words set in.

“And if things get really shitty I’m gonna be makin’ bank working for Allura, and I’m down to be your sugar daddy.”

“Oh my _god,_ Lance.”

“Just sayin’!” He laughed, letting Keith push him onto his back before his boyfriend stood up. “Ready to head back down?”

Keith sighed, and ran his hands through his hair, looking over at the hatch. “Yeah… probably should. Shiro is gonna want a break from the scary movies, and I feel like Pidge isn’t gonna let that happen unless someone intervenes.”

“You are not wrong.”

Lance climbed down first, and stood back once he reached the floor, watching Keith and giving him a whistle as he made his way down.

“Yeah okay, I get it, great view comin’ down.”

“Why are you like this?”

“I’m pretty sure my sister one time admitted to dropping me on my head as a baby.”

Keith stopped climbing to look down at Lance, one brow raised, and gave him possibly the most genuinely confused face he ever gave him before.

“I wish I was joking.”

He shrugged then dropped the remaining few feet to the floor like it was nothing. “It would also explain how not at all coordinated you are,” he pointed out, opening the door just an inch to peek into the stairwell before leading the way back downstairs.

Just as he stepped out of the stairwell he was immediately pushed back in, a broad chest and prosthetic arm obscuring his vision. Shiro pushed him carefully but with an undeniable urgency, knocking Keith back into his boyfriend with a surprised “fuck.”

“Shiro, what the fuck-”

“Shh, shut up,” he whispered, clasping a hand over his brother’s mouth while his other reached back to hold the door shut.

“Shiro?” Lance whispered, brows furrowed, looking more concerned but just as confused as Keith.

“Zak sent Lotor.”

And just like that his blood ran cold in his veins. Keith took a staggering step back, his gaze going straight to the door. On the other side of that door was the heir to the entire company, and the most conniving, backhanded person he had ever met. As far as Keith knew he wasn’t even in the _country_ , so why would he worry? Why would he even bother telling his doorman downstairs not to let him in?

“I… I have to tell him to leave. He- he can’t be here-”

“Allura is taking care of it. Or, I mean, she’s trying to at least. But you still shouldn’t be here- you need to go- well you need to go somewhere I just- I don’t know-”

Lance stepped around Keith to stand beside the brothers, raising his hand to get their attention. “Keith can come home with me.”

“Lance, I-”

“Thank you,” Shiro said, clapping a hand down over his shoulder. “I’m going to go back for your keys then, okay? I’ll be right back.”

He left the two of them alone, and the silence that just ten minutes ago felt like a comfort threatened to suffocate Keith where he stood.

“Keith? Keith, look at me,” Lance urged, moving to stand in front of him and grasp his trembling arms in his hands, and ducked his head down to meet his eyes. “It’s okay, we’re getting you out of here. You don’t have to confront him right now. We’re going to go back to my place, and you can just… relax. Lay low for a bit. Just think of it like a vacation.”

“Vacation, right,” he muttered, his heart beating almost painfully in his chest.

It felt like he’d done something wrong, like he was a _criminal._ All he did was come out, and now he had to “lay low”? He shouldn’t have to hide himself, he shouldn’t-

He heard footsteps approaching, and felt his muscles tense, his gaze shooting towards the door. When Shiro opened the door he let out a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding, and took the bag he was holding out to him.

“I wasn’t able to grab much without getting noticed, but I got your phone, wallet, and Lance’s keys. Your roommate said he would get the rest when he left.”

“Got it. Thanks, Shiro,” Lance said, setting a hand on the small of Keith’s back. “Allura has my address and stuff if you need to get ahold of us.”

Without another word or even a glance in his brother’s direction Keith let the other man lead him down the stairs, feeling more like a man on death row than a man in love.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y'all I started this series so long ago I don't think Lotor was even a character when it began. Which feels wrong since this only started a year and a half ago, but whatever it gave me an excuse to add him and additional drama *double finger guns* I also have new ideas for other things like oneshots, short chaptered things, and more therapy fics because my god is it therapeutic writing about issues you have. So if you like my writing keep an eye out because I have a lot of cosplays to work on that I would like to procrastinate and ignore over the next few months lmao
> 
> ANYWAY. Thank you for reading and again for being patient with me! I love reading your guys' comments and I swear I treasure every one of them <3

**Author's Note:**

> I figured I should stop here so the first chapter doesn't get TOO long, next chapter will have the photoshoot and a better understanding of Lance's new role at Altea Cosmetics and just MAYBE some bonding for our boys c;  
> please tell me I'm not alone in my love for Lance in makeup it can't be possible


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